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A GUIDE 



MORAL AND SOCIAL MANNERS 



CONTAINING THB 



RULES OF DUTY AND THE REASON OF THEM, SHOWING 

WHENCE OUR OBLIGATIONS ARISE AND 

WHERE THEY TERMINATE. 






_, 

By JAMES TAYLOR, Ph. D. 



1 



ADAPTED TO THE CAPACITY OP THE YOUNG, AND TO A 
REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 



FOE THE USE OP 



Colleges, Academies, and Schools, and for Self Culture. 



CINCINNATI: 

PUBLISHED ^OH THE AITTHOB 

1872. 






i 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, 

By JAMES TAYLOR, Ph. D., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 

STEREOTYPED AT THE FRANKLIN TYPE FOUNDRY, CINCINNATI. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



MORAL DUTIES. 

PART FIRST. 

PAGE 

Preface I 

Introduction 13 

The Moral Sense, 16 

Justice 20 

Integrity, or Honesty 24 

Candor 26 

Benevolence , .... 27 

Beneficence 30 

Compassion 34 

Veracity 36 

Friendship 42 

Parental Duties 44 

Duties of Children 48 

The Domestic Affections 51 

Gratitude 54 

Of Desires 56 

Animal Desires 55 

The Desire of Approbation 58 

The Desire of Emulation 61 

Ambition 63 

The Desire of "Wealth 66 

The Desire of Knowledge 69 

The Defensive Affections 73 

Of Virtue 76 

Of Happiness , 81 

The Deficiencies of Moral Justice Compensated in After-life 85 

Concluding Observations 87 

(3) 



CIVIL DUTIES. 

PART SECOND, 

PAGE. 

Civil Duties 95 

Of Government in General -. 96 

Of the Government of the United States 99 

Division of Powers 102 

To know the Constitution of the United States a Duty of every Citizen 104 

Duty of Obedience to Law 108 

Civil Duties and Rights, Reciprocal 110 

Civil Liberty 113 

Relative Duties of Marriage 116 

Duties of Parents 117 

Duties of Children 120 

Duty to Fulfill Contracts 121 

Principal and Agent 122 

Duty of Relieving the Poor 123 

General Remarks 125 

Political Duties 126 

Duty to acquire Political Knowledge - 128 

Duty of every Citizen to know the History of his Country 130 

Duty of Voting 131 

Duty to enact Good Laws 135 

Constitution of the United States of Progressive Growth 137 

Articles of Confederation 141 

Constitution of the United States 156 

Of State Government 180 

State Constitution 184 

Sound Public Opinion Essential to Stable Government : May be In- 
jured by External Influence 206 

Concluding Observations on Civil Duties 212 

(4) 



PREFACE 



In preparing an epitome of the doctrines 
of morality or social manners, which teaches 
men their duty and the reason of it, I am 
actuated by a desire to supply a great want 
in our public schools. Being an earnest ad- 
mirer of Republican Government, and having 
a full conviction that its permanence can 
only be maintained by the virtue of its citi- 
zens, I think it is of the highest impor- 
tance that rules of moral duty should be 
early inculcated. The teaching of the rudi- 
ments of education in our common schools, 
if unaccompanied with good moral precepts, 
gives a power for evil as well as for good, 
and therefore it is necessary that habits of 
virtue should be early inculcated. To do 
this effectively, simple rules of moral duty 
should be adapted to the capacity of the 

(5) 



6 PREFACE. 

young. The study of moral philosophy is 
too abstruse for young minds, yet it is in 
earfy years that the habits of thought are 
formed. It can not be doubted that the fac- 
ulties of the mind are so constituted by na- 
re, that as soon as we begin to reason, we 
so begin to distinguish good from evil ; and 
ti morality is not early inculcated, it will be 
difficult to eradicate the errors that may have 
crept in. I therefore have undertaken the 
task of reducing the principles of morality 
into short rules adapted to the capacity of 
youth, as a guide to the performance of those 
duties, which every citizen of a free govern- 
ment is expected to fulfill. And if my efforts 
shall only effect a part of that which I design, 
it will be a great reward, and I shall feel 
that my time has been well employed. 

The necessity of early moral training 
must be obvious. Human laws are always 
imperfect, and necessarily omit many duties : 
they only enjoin where they can compel ; con- 
sequently, those duties which, by their nature, 
must be voluntary, are left out of the statute 
book. Often, statutes are only compromises 



PREFACE. 7 

of conflicting opinions, diverse interests, or 
opposing parties, so that complete justice can 
only obtain when correct moral sentiment 
prevails and forms public opinion. When 
this can be effected the courts of law will be 
less resorted to, men's idea of right and 
wrong will better agree, men will be more 
constrained by a sense of right ; but it is only 
by early training that this agreement can 
be effected — correct principle, once acquired, 
will bind the consciences of men, and lead 
them in the path of duty, justice, and recti- 
tude. 

It can not but be desirable to have a code 
of plain rules, easy to be comprehended, 
which shall aid the formation of correct 
opinion on the subject of human duty; it is 
more important that our opinions be correct 
in respect to right and wrong than in re- 
spect to any other subject; and if the minds 
of youth be thoroughly imbued with sound 
general principles, they will be instinctively 
applied in the various situations and circum- 
stances in life. Fixed principles will take 
the place of error, passion, and selfishness ; 



8 PREFACE. 

a consciousness of right will always more or 
less control the impulses of our nature ; and 
he whose character is formed by a familiar- 
ity with virtue and sound moral principle 
will be more likely to become a good citizen 
than he who has no other guide than pas- 
sion, impulse, and unrestrained self-will. The 
energies of our moral senses have to be 
rightly directed, for virtue is not in the 
senses, but in the manner they are exercised. 
By frequent repetition a habit is formed, 
and the habits constitute character. When 
good habits are once formed, opinions and 
principles are thereby modified. 

To establish moral habits on the firmest 
basis is the object of the author, and, to ef- 
fect this, all controversial questions have 
been avoided. Morals must be fixed beyond 
dispute to be of value; and although it is not 
in the nature of the subject to arrive at per- 
fect accuracy, it ought to suffice if as much 
accuracy has been attained as, is consistent 
with the nature of the subject and the design 
of the author. It is also to be remembered, 
that we are not to be over-curious in the in- 



■ PREFACE. 9 

vestigation of causes concerning some things ; 
it is sufficient to know that they are, with- 
out knowing the reason. This is the case of 
those first principles which result from the 
perception of sense. 

To collect knowledge scattered over many 
volumes into a small compass, if it has not 
the merit of originality, it has at least the 
advantage of being useful; and thousands 
who would be horrified at the bulk of ponder- 
ous volumes will set out on a short journey 
in the pursuit of knowledge with zest, alac- 
rity, and profit. 

I am fully sensible of the difficulty of the 
undertaking, but am still more sensible of 
the importance of the work, and, if I can 
only partially succeed, I perhaps may sug- 
gest to some one more able, how greatly 
society may be benefited by a more full and 
perfect elaboration of the idea which is here 
crudely attempted. 



THE MORAL DUTIES, 



DESCRIPTION OF THE INWARD SENSES, 
FROM WHENCE THEY ARE DERIVED. 



PART FIRST. 



INTRODUCTION 

TO 

imzozr/j^jli zdtttiies. 



The Physiology of Morals may not be an 
inapt term for that part of ethical inquiry 
which points out the faculties called moral 
senses. Physiology teaches the functions of 
all the organs of animals and plants, or, in 
other words, the offices they perform in the 
economy of the individual. Moral science 
teaches the inward faculties and the offices 
they perform in producing the emotions of 
right and wrong, justice and injustice, benev- 
olence and gratitude, as well as the affections, 
the desires and the defensive affections of re- 
sentment and anger. Thus far a great anal- 
ogy may be observed. But, as in physical 
science, physiology does not touch upon pathol- 
ogy and therapeutics, so, in ethics, this branch 
of moral philosophy does not treat of depravity 
or moral disease. The moralist is only con- 
cerned in defining morals in a healthy state; 

(13) 



14 MORAL DUTIES. 

and as the physiologist leaves to the physician 
the cure and jorevention of physical diseases, 
so the moralist leaves to the statesman the 
prevention and cure of depravity, or moral 
disease. But as statesmen are not always 
skilled in the therapeutics of moral disease, we 
have some curious examples of malpractice. 

If a physician were to put to the torture a 
diseased person, the public sentiment would 
be horrified. Yet, penal laws have prescribed 
cruelty in cases of moral disease. The object 
of the physician is to cure or prevent disease ; 
the object of the statesman should be to pre- 
vent and cure moral disease; and the one is no 
more justified than the other in inflicting use- 
less and unnecessary cruelty. Society needs 
protection only against fraud and violence; 
and punishment beyond what is necessary to 
insure this is revenge, and society becomes 
the offender. Revenge is a vice, as is shown 
under the head ". Defensive Affections," 
page 73. The same rules of moral conduct 
which apply to an individual are equally ap- 
plicable to a community, and are the only safe 
guide to a statesman. 



MORAL DUTIES. 15 

We are constituted with senses by which 
we distinguish between form and color, bitter 
and sweet, hard and soft, perfume and stench, 
harmony and discord. These are the outward 
senses. But we are also provided with internal 
senses, which convey to us impressions of right 
and wrong, justice and injustice, pleasure and 
pain, satisfaction and regret. These faculties 
are as much a part of our constitution as are 
our legs: yet neither of these come with us 
perfect into the world ; they require to be per- 
fected by practice and custom. Children re- 
quire a time before they can walk; even the 
use of their eyes requires practice before they 
can judge of distances. A child may try to 
reach the moon, but soon learns by experience 
the futility of the effort. So with the moral 
faculties; they require cultivation and the 
formation of habits; these once formed the 
character is established. 

I shall now endeavor to describe the moral 
feelings, and to add rules for their right gov- 
ernment. These feelings furnish us with a 
consciousness of the moral quality of our 



16 MORAL DUTIES. 

actions, whether they are right, or whether 
they are wrong, and seem to be implanted in 
us by our Creator as one of the modes by 
which we may know His will ; and as there 
can be no doubt that He designed us to be 
happy, they give us an assurance of His 
approval. 



THE MOEAL SENSE. 

There is implanted in mankind a sense of 
right and wrong not derived from a chain of 
reasoning ; yet this sense so impresses itself 
upon us, and is so binding in its decisions, 
that it seems an inward monitor : it modifies 
our actions, directs our conduct, gives a sense 
of joy when we know we have complied with 
its behests, and a sense of remorse when we 
feel that we have disregarded them. The 
knowledge we thus obtain is quite different 
from that we obtain through the external 
senses, yet its intuitions can not be rejected. 
This sense is called conscience, by some thought 



MORAL DUTIES. 17 

to be intuitive, and mav be defined to be a 
judgment which a man passes on the moral 
quality of his actions as to their purity or 
turpitude. It condemns things that are evil 
and approves those which are good. It is 
amenable to no human power and can not be 
coerced, and has sustained many under the 
most cruel persecutions. All laws, therefore, 
against the rights of conscience are unwar- 
ranted and wrong. The example of wise and 
good men may become rules of conscience ; 
but no example or judgment against law is of 
any authority, except so far as to suggest the 
repeal of bad laws. Conscience is, then, con- 
sidered a natural and common principle which 
instructs men in all countries the duties to 
which thev are all alike obliged, but varied by 
association. Even among the rudest tribes 
of men a distinction has ever been made 
between just and unjust- — a duty and a crime ; 
even the criminal is conscious of his guilt. 
A right conscience is that which decides right 
according to the only rule of rectitude: "Do 
to others as you would that others should do 
to you." But conscience, by evil associations, 
2 



18 MORAL DUTIES. 

may lose the sense of the natural distinction 
of moral good and evil: when reflecting on 
wickedness it feels no pain, it does not startle 
at the proposal of crime, and is even silent at 
the commission of it. To preserve a pure 
conscience we must be familiar with all virtu- 
ous acts, we must guard against selfish- 
ness, passion, and temper, control our desires, 
accustom ourselves to calm reflection on our 
past actions, must regard the interest of 
others as well as our own, so as to do injury 
to none, and judge charitably of all. As con- 
science, then, is the judge of our actions, to 
which we appeal for approval or disap- 
proval, it behooves us cautiously to guard 
against those influences which mislead its decis- 
ions ; and to this end we must inquire into the 
nature of such influences, how they operate, 
and endeavor to find some means of subject- 
ing them to a proper control. 

Some writers deny that conscience is an 
intuitive sense, or that its judgments are com- 
mon and uninform ; but, without entering 
into this controversy, I shall simply assert, 
and without fear of contradiction, that some 



MORAL DUTIES. 19 

sorts of actions command and receive the 
esteem of mankind more than others, and 
that the approbation of them is general, if not 
universal. And whether it be intuitive, or 
whether it be mere habit or imitation, it is a 
habit and an imitation to be fostered and cul- 
tivated. Maxims and principles of right and 
wrong should be early inculcated, and if 
thereby a law of custom favorable to virtue 
and good citizenship can be even partially 
established, it will lead to greater uniformity 
in the opinions of men, and promote the hap- 
piness of mankind. 

RULES OF COXSCIE]\ T CE. 

"Do to others as you would that others 
should do to you." Imitate the example of 
wise and good men, that by practice you may 
form habits of similar conduct. Do no act 
the reflection of which will not give satisfac- 
tion, for the consciousness of having done 
wrong brings painful remorse. Practice char- 
ity and good-will, for it not only gives satis- 
faction, but induces reciprocity. Strive to do 



W MORAL D UTIES. 

right, that God may approve and bless your 
efforts. 

JUSTICE. 

To be just in all our actions is a moral duty 
second to none: we will therefore consider 
what justice is. Justice is an essential part 
of our moral constitution, conveying the dis- 
tinct impression of certain conduct which a 
man owes to his fellow-man, without regard 
to any considerations of a personal nature, and 
apart from all positive laws. The require- 
ments of justice embrace certain points in 
which every man has an absolute right, and 
in respect to which it is the absolute duty of 
every other man not to interfere with him. 

These rights have been divided into three 
classes : What I have a right to possess, and 
no man has a- right to take from me ; What 
I have a right to do, and no man has a right 
to prevent me from doing ; What I have a right 
to expect from other men, and it is their ab- 
solute duty to perform. These principles form 
the basis of natural jurisprudence — -a code of 



MORAL DUTIES. 21 

relative duty, deriving its authority from im- 
pressions which are found in the moral feel- 
ings of all mankind, without regard to enact- 
ments of any particular civil society. In the 
actual arrangements of civil communities these 
great principles of justice are combined with 
others which are derived merely from utility 
or expediency, as calculated to promote the 
peace or the advantage of the community. 
These may differ in different countries, and 
they cease to be binding when the enactments 
on which they rest are repealed ; but no dif- 
ference of place can alter, and no laws can de- 
stroy, the essential requirements of justice. 

The sense of justice, therefore, consists in a 
feeling experienced by every man of a certain 
line of conduct he owes to other men, and may 
be referred to thus : To respect their interests, 
not to interfere with their freedom of action — 
to consult their feelings — do no injury to 
their reputation — estimate their character and 
motives with fairness — judge not harshly of 
their opinions. As a guide for his conduct in 
particular instances, a man has usually a dis- 
tinct impression of what he thinks due from 



22 MORAL DUTIES, 

other men toward himself. Justice requires 
that he rigidly extend to others the same 
feelings and conduct which, in similar circum- 
stances, he himself would expect from them. 

Justice requires us not to interfere with the 
freedom of action of others. This constitutes 
personal liberty ; but in all civil communities 
this right is subject to certain restrictions : as 
when a man uses his freedom of action to the 
danger or injury of other men. The prin- 
ciples of justice also recognize a man's sur- 
rendering, to a certain extent, his personal lib- 
erty by mutual and voluntary compact; but 
only by his personal act, or by his lawful rep- 
resentative, except by such enactments as are 
lawfully made by the government to which he 
is subject, either by nativity or adoption. Laws 
are made for more than one generation, and 
are binding as long as they are not abrogated. 

Justice regards the reputation of others. 
This consists in avoiding every thing that could 
injure their good name, either by direct evil- 
speaking, or such insinuations as might give 
rise to suspicion or prejudice against them. It 
must extend also to the counteracting of such in- 



MORAL D UTIES, 23 

sinuations when we hear them made by 
others, especially in circumstances in which 
the individual has no opportunity of de- 
fending himself. It includes, further, that 
we do not deny to others, even rivals, 
any praise or credit which is justly due 
to them. There is, however, a modification, 
equally consistent with justice, to which the 
former is liable, namely : that, in certain cases, 
we may be required to make a statement preju- 
dicial to an individual when duty to the 
third party or to the public makes it incum- 
bent on us to do so. In such cases, a person 
guided by the rules of justice will go no farther 
than is actually required by the circumstances. 

EULES OF JUSTICE. 

Respect the rights of others, and do not in- 
terfere with their freedom of action, because, 
by the observance of this rule, your own rights 
w^ill be secured from the intrusion of others 
who observe the same rule. Do no injury to 
the reputation of others, that you may enjoy 
the same immunity. Estimate the character 



2Jf MORAL D UT+ES. 

of men with fairness, for by " such measure 
as ye meet, shall be measured to you again." 
Judge not harshly of the opinions of others, 
that your own opinions may be respected. 

INTEGRITY OR HONESTY. 

Honesty is that feeling which makes us 
prefer the fulfillment of promises or duty, 
though opposed to our own interest and in- 
clination. We do so because it satisfies our 
conscience and gains for us the respect of 
those with w r hom we have dealings. It 
teaches us to represent things as they are, 
to avoid trick or fraud in all our transac- 
tions. It enjoins us to enter into no engage- 
ment without a full conviction that we shall 
be able to fulfill its requirements. If we un- 
dertake a trust from another, it must be faith- 
fully discharged. By the practice of these 
principles we greatly promote our own inter- 
ests ; we thereby obtain the confidence and 
good- will of our fellow-men; and this is often 
of great assistance to us, enabling us to enter 
into, and successfully accomplish, enterprises 



MORAL DUTIES. 25 

of profit and advantage, proving that " Hon- 
esty is the best policy." 

Integrity or honesty allows us to exercise 
a prudent attention to our own interest, pro- 
vided the means be fair and honorable, and 
that we carefully abstain from injuring others 
by the measures we employ for this purpose. 
The great rule for our guidance in all such 
cases is found in the immutable principles 
of moral rectitude. The test of our conduct in 
regard to individual instances is, that it be 
such, as were our own interest concerned, we 
should think fair and honorable in other men. 
We must fulfill all contracts we have en- 
tered into, pay the full due to those with 
whom we have dealings, be faithful in our 
trust, and truthful in all our statements. 

EULES OF INTEGRITY. 

Before you enter into any engagements 
inquire of yourself, Shall I be able to fulfill 
what I am about to undertake? for it is al- 
ways safe to consider the end as w r ell as the 
beginning. Faithfully discharge every obli- 
gation you enter into ; it is by this we estab- 



26 MORAL DUTIES. 

lish our reputation. Reflect before you act, 
and say, Is this action right? 

CANDOR. 

Among the moral duties, Candor holds an 
important place. It is a disposition to form a 
fair and impartial judgment on the opinions 
of others ; or a temper of mind unsoured by 
envy, unruffled by malice, and unseduced by 
prejudice. It consists, not in fairness of 
speech only, but in fairness of heart. It is 
not blind attachment to external courtesy ; 
although it conceals faults, it does not invent 
virtues. It leads us to give due attention to 
the statements of others ; in all cases to be 
chiefly solicitous to discover truth. It is, 
therefore, opposed to prejudice, blind attach- 
ment to preconceived opinions, and that nar- 
row disputatious spirit which delights in 
captious criticism, and will hear nothing with 
calmness that is opposed to its own views. 
Candor does not, necessarily, require us 
bluntly to tell every one of his faults, to 
criticise his personal appearance and capac- 



MORAL DUTIES* 27 

ity, for the vain purpose of displaying our 
own discernment; this would show a want of 
consideration for the feelings of others — -would 
be an unwarrantable rudeness ; but candor re- 
quires us to give praise where it is due, par- 
ticularly for worthy actions, because it is 
beneficial to society to encourage the repeti- 
tion of such actions as contribute to moral 
conduct. 

RULES OF CANDOR. 

Endeavor to discover truth, for a hastily- 
formed opinion may lead to an unconscious 
wrong. Do not suffer envy, hatred, or mal- 
ice, self-love or prejudice, to mislead your 
judgment; by the correctness of your judg- 
ment, as well as by your good intention, you 
will be estimated by your fellow-men. Give 
praise where it is due, even to an enemy; 
you will thereby gain respect. 

BENEVOLENCE. 

Benevolence is the love of mankind in 
general, accompanied with a desire to promote 



28 MORAL D UTIES. 

their happiness. It is distinguished from be- 
neficence- — that being the practice, benevolence 
the desire, of doing good. Benevolence must 
be universal, reaching to every man without 
exception; but beneficence can not be so uni- 
versal, for it is, necessarily, confined by 
several considerations, such as our knowledge 
of its objects, and their different circumstan- 
ces, as well as our abilities and opportunities 
of exercising it. Benevolence or good-will to 
others does not imply that we are to neglect 
our own interests. Our health, prosperity, and 
reputation should all be objects of concern: nor 
will this clash with the affection we bear to 
others ; on the contrary, experiencing the im- 
portance of these blessings ourselves, we shall 
be anxious for others to possess them also. 
The duties of benevolence include those we 
owe to men, on the ground that they are of 
the same species as ourselves, subject to the 
same wants, and, like ourselves, entitled to 
sympathy and relief; those we owe to our 
country, desiring its honor, safety and pros- 
perity ; those we owe to families and individ- 



MORAL DUTIES. 29 

uals, as affection, care, provision, justice, for- 
bearance, etc. Benevolence manifests itself 
by being pleased with the share of good every 
creature enjoys, in a disposition to increase 
it, in feeling and uneasiness at suffering, and 
in the abhorrence of cruelty under every dis- 
guise and pretext. The desire of doing good, 
unconnected with any idea of advantage to 
ourselves, is called disinterested benevolence — 
though some doubt whether, strictly speaking, 
there be any such thing, as benevolence is 
always attended with a pleasure to ourselves, 
which forms a kind of mental interest. So 
far, however, as we are able to prefer the good 
of others to our own, and sacrifice our own 
comfort for the welfare of any about us, so far 
it may be said to be disinterested. 

EXILES OF BENEVOLENCE. 

Love thy neighbor as thyself, for it is a 
Divine command. Be careful of the reputa- 
tion of others ; it is wicked to injure any one 
in their good name. Benevolence consists not 
only in doing good, but also in averting evil. 



30 MORAL DUTIES. 

Great minds, like Heaven, are pleased with 
doing good, though the ungrateful objects of 
their favor are barren in return. True be- 
nevolence, though it act ever so secretly, finds 
a just reward, and is one of those impulses 
of our nature that may be indulged without 
any other limit than that we do not seriously 
injure ourselves or those dependent on us. 

BENEFICENCE. 

Beneficence or Liberalitv is a generous 
impulse, and chiefly refers to a peculiar rela- 
tion of property — although it also refers to 
a liberality of sentiment. That man may be 
said to be liberal who entertains a proper 
sense of justice and good-will to his fellow- 
man. In regard to the propriety of conduct 
in relation to property, prodigality and nig- 
gardliness are the two contrary and blamable 
extremes. Niggardliness always refers to 
those who set too hio-h a value on monev — 
prodigality expresses extravagant profusion 
joined to inordinate intemperance. Those 
are called prodigals who waste their fortunes 



MORAL DUTIES. 31 

in ruinous pleasures and debase themselves 
by worthlessess. Property may be used rightly 
or it may be abused, and he only can use it 
rightly who is adorned with the virtue of lib- 
erality. Many suppose themselves to be 
worthy of esteem because they are wealthy, 
but those whose wealth is of no value to 
any but themselves can have no such 
claim : as well might we esteem an iron chest 
filled with treasure which will never be 
opened to us. None are more beloved than 
the liberal ; their virtue is extensively useful, 
diffusing itself in benefits. But the motive 
from which they proceed is chiefly what con- 
stitutes virtue ; for liberality, like every other 
virtue, must keep in view the beauty of pro- 
priety, selecting its objects and proportioning 
its extent according to those rules which 
right reason prescribes. Favors must be 
conferred cheerfully and at the proper time. 
If the gifts we bestow on others occasion us 
pain, it is proof that we prefer money to gen- 
erous actions ; and if we are rapacious in 
acquiring money, we can not be truly liberal 
in employing it. A man of real beneficence 



S2 MORAL DUTIES, 

will enrich himself by the diligent manage- 
ment of his affairs, that he may acquire ma- 
terials for his bounty, which will be distributed 
with caution, that it may never fail the de- 
serving. It belongs to his character to be prov- 
ident for others, and extend the measure of 
his bounty beyond those limits which selfish- 
ness would prescribe. Our liberality should 
be relative to our wealth, and consists not so 
much in the value of the gifts as in the tem- 
per and habit of the giver. Prodigality is 
the opposite of avarice : the first is excessive 
in giving and defective in receiving; the last 
is defective in giving and excessive in re- 
ceiving, scraping together the meanest and 
most sordid gains. The real virtue of lib- 
erality is in doing all the good we can, con- 
sistent with our means : to do less we fail in 
duty ; to do more is imprudence. But it is not 
giving money only that constitutes generosity — 
many valuable benefits are conferred by per- 
sonal service; and the interchange of per- 
sonal service, in the performance of good 
offices, is a praiseworthy exercise of the sense 
of beneficence. 



MORAL DUTIES, S3 



EULES OF BENEFICENCE. 

We must not set too high a value on money, 
for money is only valuable for the uses it may 
be applied: to value money for the thing 
itself is niggardliness. We must not waste 
our fortunes in ruinous pleasures, for this 
would be prodigality. To enjoy the use of 
money we must be liberal, for it is always 
agreeable to a generous mind to diffuse 



benefits. 

What we give we should give cheerfully, 
but not without propriety and prudence. If 
we would enjoy the pleasures of wealth we 
must manage our affairs with diligence, 
that we may acquire material for our bounty, 
and distribute it with caution, that it may not 
fail the deserving. Our liberality should 
always be proportionate to our means ; but 
the kind office of personal service is often of 
greater value than gifts, and more highly 
appreciated. 

3 



3 A MORAL DUTIES* 

COMPASSION. 

Compassion is that feeling which is excited 
either by the actual distress of its object or 
by some impending calamity which appears 
inevitable. It is a benevolent sorrow for the 
suffering or approaching misery of another. 
This feeling has been wisely implanted in our 
nature, that we assist each other in times of 
calamity or danger. This exercise of them, 
in many instances, calls for a decided sacrifice 
of personal interest, and in others for consider- 
able personal exertion. We feel our way to 
the proper measure of these sacrifices of per- 
sonal interest and exertion by the high prin- 
ciple of moral duty, along with that mental 
exercise which places us in the situation of 
others, and, by a kind of reflected self-love, we 
judge the conduct due by us under the particu- 
lar circumstances. Pecuniary aid by those who 
have the means is the most easy mode of 
gratifying their feeling of compassion; that 
which requires sacrifice of personal comfort 
calls for a goodness of heart and generous im- 
pulse. This affection may be exercised in a 



MORAL DUTIES. 35 

higher degree by personal exertion and kind 
services. The former, compared with the 
means of the individual, may present a mere 
mockery of compassion, while the latter, even 
among the poorest, often exhibits the bright- 
est displays of active usefulness that can 
adorn the human character. Pure compas- 
sion not only is dispensed with willingness 
when occasions present themselves, but seeks 
out opportunities for itself, and feels in want 
of its natural and healthy exercise when cle- 
prived of an object upon which it may be be- 
stowed. 

KULES OF COMPASSION. 

Be always ready to assist in time of calamity 
or danger ; it is a duty we owe to one another, 
and we know not when we ourselves may re- 
quire aid. Compassion, to be of value, must 
be active ; only active usefulness can afford 
satisfaction. The truly compassionate are the 
truly wise ; and he who loves not others, lives 
unblest. 



36 MORAL DUTIES. 

VEEACITY. 

Moral truth consists in our intention to con- 
vey to another, to the best of our ability, the 
conception of a fact exactly as it exists in our 
own minds. But, considering the importance 
of truth, it is incumbent on us to use every 
exertion to know that we have a right impres- 
sion ; for as much injury may be done by rep- 
resenting as true that which is false, but 
which we have not sufficiently inquired into, 
to guard against error, or of which we have 
formed a false opinion. The importance of 
truth may be formed from the fact that all 
intelligence which we derive from any other 
source than our own personal experience is 
founded in the veracity of mankind. All we 
receive from the historian, the traveler, the 
naturalist, or the astronomer, we must depend 
on his veracity; without this reliance the 
w T hole system of human things would go into 
confusion. Even in regard to the events of a 
single day, we depend on the veracity of a 
number of individuals. There is a natural 
tendency to truth in all men, unless this prin- 



MORAL DUTIES. 37 

ciple is overcome by some strong, selfish pur- 
pose, or bad association and habit, by which 
the moral sense has been corrupted ; and there 
is an equally strong tendency to rely on the 
veracity of others, until we have learned cer- 
tain cautions by our actual experience of man- 
kind. Children and inexperienced persons are 
easily imposed upon, and the most practiced 
liars confide in the credulity of those they 
w r ould deceive. Deception, indeed, would never 
accomplish its purpose if it were not from the 
impression that men generally speak the truth. 
It is obvious, also, that the mutual confidence 
which men have in each other, both in regard 
to veracity of statements and to sincerity 
of intention respecting" engagements, is that 
which keeps together the whole of civil so- 
ciety. In the transactions of commerce it is 
indispensable, and without it all the relations 
of civil life would go to disorder. An analysis 
of the elements of veracity would appear to 
be correctness in ascertaining facts, accuracy 
in relating them, and truth of purpose, or 
fidelity in the fulfilments of promises. An 
important element of veracity is correctness 



88 MORAL DUTIES. 

in ascertaining facts. It requires us to exercise 
the most anxious care respecting every state- 
ment which we receive as true, and not to re- 
ceive it as such until we are satisfied that the 
authority on which it is asserted is of a nature 
on which we can fully rely, and that the state- 
ment contains all the facts to which our atten- 
tion ought to be directed. We must guard 
against those limited views which party spirit 
or love of favorite dogmas lead a man to re- 
ceive the facts which favor a particular opinion, 
and to neglect those which are opposed to it. 
The art of ingenious disputation is often found 
to be directly at variance with truth, as is all 
sophistical arguments and partial or distorted 
reasoning by which disputants strive to es- 
tablish their views, instead of an honest and 
earnest inquiry after truth. The love of truth, 
therefore, requires us to relinquish our opinions 
when new facts or arguments are presented to 
us which are found to overturn them. This 
candid and sincere search after truth ought to 
be cultivated in early life, as it is this habit 
of mind which exercises the greatest influence 



MORAL DUTIES. 89 

in the culture both of the moral and intel- 
lectual character. 

After correctly ascertaining facts, it is im- 
portant to correctly relate them, so as not to 
onvey a false impression. They must not be 
distorted or colored, so as to alter materially 
the impression conveyed by them : facts which 
are unconnected must not be made to appear 
as cause and effect ; general conclusions must 
not be assumed from isolated facts. The 
character of an individual may be assumed 
from a single act, which, if the truth were fully 
known, might be seen to be opposed to his real 
disposition, and accounted for by the circum- 
stances in which he happened at the time to 
be placed. 

Veracity requires the faithful performance 
of promises — not only what is actually prom- 
ised, but what was conveyed by the manner 
and circumstances the intention which the 
expressions were calculated to make, or the 
hope they excited at the time. There can be 
no excuse for the non-performance of a prom- 
ise, except the inability to perform it, or that 
the doing so would be unlawful. It is a 



4 MORAL D UTIES. 

fraud to make a false impression, with an in- 
tention to deceive, whether it be made by- 
words, tone of voice, a look of the eye, a mo- 
tion of the head, or any thing by which the 
f mind of another may be unfairly influenced and 
misled. This applies to all our intercourse 
with men. Truth forbids parents to lie to 
children, and children to parents ; attorneys 
to jurors; sellers to buyers. The obligation 

is universal and can not be violated without 

• 

great turpitude. We are created with a dis- 
position to speak the truth, and also to believe 
what is spoken. The fact that we are thus 
constituted is a sufficient intimation that our 
Creator intended us to obev this constitution 
of our nature. The intention is as evident, 
as that which is manifested in creating the 
eye to receive light. 

We are so constituted that obedience to 
the law of veracity is absolutely necessary 
to our happiness. Were we to lose either 
our feeling of the obligation to speak the 
truth, or our disposition to receive as truth 
whatever is told to us, there would be an end 
to all science or knowledge beyond that, as 



MORAL DUTIES. 41 

we have said, which every man by his own 
personal experience and observation has ob- 
tained. IsTo man could profit by the discov- 
eries of his contemporaries, much less by the 
discoveries of those who have gone before 
him. Language would be useless, and we 
should be little removed from brutes. Every 
one must be aware, upon the slightest reflec- 
tion, that an entire community of liars could 
not exist in a state of society. 

KULES OF VERACITY. 

Be ever vigilant to ascertain facts : to re- 
ceive as true that which is false, compromi- 
ses our judgment; and if we repeat as true 
what we have erroneously accepted as such, 
we damage our reputation. Relate what you 
know without distortion or coloring, lest you 
fall into a habit of misrepresenting. Fulfill 
all promises in the manner such promises were 
intended and understood ; it is a want of 
high principle to quibble, evade, or to do less 
than was promised. 



4» ' MORAL DUTIES. « 



FKIENDSHIP. 

The feeling of friendship consists in a pe- 
culiar attachment to a particular person, 
founded either upon qualities in himself, or 
on account of some benefits he has conferred 
upon us ; or in a congeniality of disposition 
which gives rise to a particular interest which 
leads to a much greater sacrifice of personal 
benefit and comfort than usually proceeds 
either from justice or simple benevolence. 
The exertion arising out of this feeling leads 
us to defend, preserve, and advance his rep- 
utation, treating his feelings with peculiar 
tenderness and his failings with peculiar in- 
dulgence. It further induces us to endeavor 
to promote his moral condition, as well* as 
worldly advantage. We are gratified in his 
advancement and happiness, and regard his 
enemies as our enemies. It is to be regret- 
ted that this feeling leads us to be blind to 
his failings and deficiencies, and, if we are 
not very guarded, may lead us to think or act 
unjustly towards others ; but a mind well bal- 
anced by justice will avoid this error, for 



MORAL DUTIES. 43 

justice is a higher duty than friendship, and 
wider in its sphere of action, and therefore 
must always take precedence of personal af- 
fection. In forming friendships great caution 
is required, lest we . enter into associations 
which we might afterwards regret; nor are 
we to expect perfection in those with whom 
we form fellowship. We must always be 
tolerant to differences of opinion, for opinion 
is formed by experience and association, and 
these being various, so will opinion vary ; 
and, without tolerance, friendship can not be 
preserved. Although friendship may be rare, 
it is sometimes productive of great happiness, 
and should be always cultivated where it can 
be done with safety. 

EULES OF FRIENDSHIP. 

Defend, preserve, and advance the interests 
of your friend, respect his feelings, protect his 
reputation ; but, in doing this, be careful not 
to violate the rules of justice to others. It is 
necessary to friendship, that openness of tem- 
per and obliging manners on both hands be 



44 MORAL DUTIES, 

cultivated. We must not desert our friends 
in danger or distress. We must not form 
friendships rashly ; true happiness consists 
not in the multitude of friends, but in having 
those of real worth. 



PAKENTAL DUTIES. 

The adaptation of physical and moral laws, 
under which man is placed, to the promotion 
of human happiness, is beautifully illustrated 
in the relation which exists between parent 
and child. By accurately observing this re- 
lation, we find it not only contains a provision 
for the well-being of successive generations, 
but also to establish a tendency to indefinite 
social progress. The parent is endowed with 
the love of offspring, which renders it a pleas- 
ure to him to contribute to its welfare, and to 
give the child, by every means in his power, 
the benefit of his experience. And, on the 
contrary, there is in the child, if not a corre- 
sponding love of the parent, a disposition to sub- 
mit to the parent's wishes and yield to his 
authority. Were either of these dispositions 



MORAL DUTIES. 45 - 

wanting, it is evident that the whole social sys- 
tem would be disarranged, and incalculable 
misery entailed upon our race. 

The parent being of an age, and having 
experience to control and direct the child, 
and being instinctively compelled to exert 
this control for the child's benefit, and the 
child being instinctively disposed to yield to 
his authority when judiciously exerted, the 
child grows up under a system in which he 
yields to the will of another, and thus he 
learns at home to submit to the laws of that 
society of which he is to become a member. 
Hence, whenever the parent fails to exercise 
judiciously the parental authority, it has ever 
been found to produce domestic trouble, and 
often proves the precursor of social disorder 
and public turbulence. It is a common re- 
mark that children are influenced by example 
more readily than by other means. By the 
institution of marriage this principle of 
human nature is employed as an instrument 
of the greatest possible good. The basis of 
the marriage covenant being aifection, it sup- 
poses each party to prefer the happiness of 



46 MORAL DUTIES, 

the other to his own. Every manifestation of 
this disinterested and self-denying principle, be- 
comes an example to children. The happi- 
ness which results from the exercise of these 
virtues, and, still more, the affection exercised 
by the parents toward their children, present 
constantly before their eyes an example and 
operating motive to cultivate the same dis- 
positions. 

The wants of children make it necessary 
that some one should maintain them, and as 
no one has a right to burden others with his 
act, it follows that parents should undertake 
the charge themselves. Besides this plain 
inference, the affection of parents for their 
children, and the provisions which nature has 
prepared in the person of the mother for the 
sustentation of the infant, are a manifestation 
of the will of the Creator. The authority to 
command rests with the parent, the duty of 
submission remains with the child. This 
relation is a part of our common nature ; yet 
the parent should not exercise this authority 
from love of power, or for his own advantage 
only, but from affection and for the advantage 



MORAL DUTIES. 47 

of the child. If a child be disobedient, the 
parent is still under an obligation to act to- 
ward it for its own good. If a parent be un- 
reasonable, this does not release the child ; he 
is still bound to honor, obey, and reverence his 
parent. 

The parent is under an obligation to educate 
his children and fit them to fill a position in 
society ; and that parent who neglects this im- 
perative duty, commits not only a great wrong 
upon the child, but also a great wrong upon 
society. As this duty is too frequently negx 
lected, it has been wisely ordered by the State, 
that free schools shall be established, so that 
there shall be no excuse for a parent bringing 
up a child in ignorance ; and that parent who 
fails in the performance of this duty will 
find, when it is too late, that he has prepared 
for himself a great amount of misery and 
disappointment. It is a law of our nature 
that our own personal advantage and the dis- 
charge of duty are so intimately connected, 
that the discharge or the neglect of this duty, 
will bring with it its own reward or pun- 
ishment. 



48 MORAL DUTIES. 

.EULES OF PAKENTAL DUTY. 

Cultivate parental affection which is com- 
mon to mankind ; it will bring a great reward. 
Be careful in the training of children, for on 
this depends their happiness. Teach them to 
respect lawful authority, for on this depends 
the welfare of society. Provide for the wants 
of children, for it is the law of nature. Let 
the motive of every act be for the benefit of 
the child ; and, when he is old enough to ap- 
preciate your love, he will return your affec- 
tion with reverence and respect. See that 
your children are properly educated, that 
they may fill with credit their position in so- 
ciety, which will reflect upon you great honor. 

DUTIES OF CHILDEEK. 

Children must be supposed to have attained 
some degree of discretion before they are 
capable of any duty. There is an interval 
of eight or nine years between the dawning 
and the maturity of reason, in which it is 
necessary to subject the inclination of children 



MORAL DUTIES. 49 

to many restraints, and direct their applica- 
tion to many employments, the tendency and 
use of which they can not judge, for this 
reason the obedience and submission of chil- 
dren should be ready and implicit, with the 
exception of any manifest crime which may 
be commanded to them. 

If children, when they grow up, voluntarily 
remain members of their father's family, they 
are bound, besides the general duty of grati- 
tude to their parents, to observe such regula- 
tions of the family as the father shall appoint, 
contribute their labor to his support, if neces- 
sary, and confine themselves to such expenses 
as he shall allow. After they have attained 
manhood, and left their father's house, the ob- 
ligations to parents are the duty of gratitude, 
combined with affection, for the care, support, 
protection, and education they have received, 
and should show itself in a compliance with 
the will of the parents, a constant endeavor 
to gratify their wishes, promote their enjoy- 
ments, and soften their anxieties, in small 
matters as well as great; in- assisting them 
in their business ; in contributing to their sup- 
4 



50 MORAL DUTIES. 

port, ease, or better accommodation when 
their circumstances require it; in affording 
them company in preference to more amus- 
ing engagements ; in waiting upon their sick- 
ness or decrepitude ; in bearing with the 
infirmities of their health or temper, which 
often attend upon advanced years ; for where 
must old age find indulgence, if it do not 
meet with it in the affection and partiality 
of children? Obedience to parents is en- 
joined in the Scriptures, and is a moral duty 
imposed upon us by our sense of gratitude 
and justice. 

KULES ON THE DUTY OF CHILDKElNr. 

Be obedient to your parents, because of 
their greater experience and the affection they 
bear you: these give them knowledge and a 
desire to promote your good. Consult their 
wishes, bear with their infirmities, for it is 
but justice and gratitude for the many cares 
and anxieties they have experienced in pro- 
tecting and guiding you when you were 
unable to protect yourselves. Soften their 



MORAL DUTIES. 61 

anxieties and promote their enjoyments; you 
will thereby gain the respect and consideration 
of those who know you, and experience a 
grateful satisfaction in having discharged so 
obvious a duty. 

THE DOMESTIC AFFECTIONS. 

These are natural instincts common to 
us all. The reciprocal affections of parent 
and child, the ties of brothers and sisters, call 
for some sacrifice of personal ease, advantage, 
and comfort in the discharge of duties result- 
ing from these. In the conjugal relation 
they lead us to tenderness, confidence, and 
mutual forbearance; they unite the exertions 
of those, who have one hope, one interest, and 
one course of duty. The parental relation 
implies the highest possible degree of that 
feeling which studies the advantage of the 
objects of its care, the promotion of their 
happiness, the development of their intellects, 
the formation of their habits, and the culti- 
vation of the affections, as well as the develop- 
ment of character both as intellectual and 



62 MORAL DUTIES. 

moral beings. The filial relation requires 
respect, affection, submission, and confidence, 
and an impression that those parts of parent- 
al management which may often be disagree- 
able, are guided by a sincere desire to promote 
the highest interests of the objects of his 
regard. These affections arise -out of each 
other, and their right exercise tends to a mutual 
cultivation of them both by parent and child. 
The father ought to consider his son the 
highest object of his care, and should study 
to convey the impression that he is influenced 
only by a feeding of solemn responsibility and 
an anxious desire to promote his welfare. 
The son will naturally learn to estimate alike 
the conduct itself, and the principles from 
which it springs, and will look to the parent 
as his safest guide and counselor. The same 
principles, extended to the relation of mother 
and daughter, apply with even greater force. 
In the arrangement of society, they are 
thrown more together, and a watchful super- 
intendence may be still more habitually 
exercised, which, along with the great concern 
of cultivating the intellectual and moral 



MORAL DUTIES. 53 

being, neglects not those graces and delicacies 
which belong peculiarly to the female charac- 
ter. As brothers and sisters are the next 
with whom we form social and moral connec- 
tions, to these intimate relations we owe an es- 
pecial regard. Brothers and sisters should 
enter into a strict league of friendship, mutual 
sympathy, advice, assistance, and a generous 
intercourse of kind offices, remembering their 
relation to common parents, which unites 
them in a closer community of interest and 
affection. It is in the domestic circle that our 
highest principles and best feelings are culti- 
vated; it is by the actual exhibition of ex- 
ample, and uniform recognition of chaste 
conversation, united with respect, that a supe- 
rior character is formed. 

KULES FOR DOMESTIC INTERCOURSE. 

Let the conduct of parents be such as they 
would wish to see in their children, that they 
may command their respect and esteem. 

It is the duty of children to respect and love 
their parents, that their care may be extended 



.54 MORAL DUTIES. 

and continued to them, and that they may- 
have a sure friend whom they may consult in 
all times of difficulty and trouble. 

Let brothers and sisters cultivate mutual 
affection, and be ever ready to reciprocate 
kind offices, a generous intercourse, and a 
common sympathy. 

GEATITUDE. 

That pleasing affection of the mind which 
arises from a sense of favors received, is 
called gratitude, and by which the person 
benefited is urged to make all the returns of 
love and service in his power. It is mostly 
connected with an impressive sense of the 
amiable disposition of the person who has 
conferred a favor, and it immediately pro- 
duces a personal affection toward him. We 
shall not wonder at the strength and energy 
of this affection, when we consider it is com- 
pounded of the joy of receiving, the approval 
of the good communicated, and affection for 
the donor. It is an affection deserving of 
cultivation, because whatever is done that 



MORAL DUTIES. 55 

contributes to the general happiness by vol- 
untary motive is deserving of the highest 
praise. In prescribing rules of justice, much 
must be left to those offices of kindness which 
men remain at liberty to exert or to withhold. 
But, as voluntary acts of kindness are a great 
source of happiness, they deserve to be en- 
couraged, and it is therefore of considerable 
general importance that acts of kindness 
should meet with a proper return. A gener- 
ous mind will reciprocate acts of kindness, 
and this reciprocation is the most pleasing 
exertion of goodness, and is in accordance 
with the rules of justice. The existence of 
this sort of kindness depends mainly upon the 
return which it receives. 



R£TLES OF GRATITUDE. 

Receive with due appreciation benefits vol- 
untarily conferred, and esteem the giver, be- 
cause his act of kindness was without claim. 

Make at all times a proper acknowledg- 
ment, and, when practicable, a suitable return 
for favors received ; it is but justice to be 



56 MORAL DUTIES. 

grateful for voluntary acts of kindness, be- 
sides it is a mark of goodness that can only 
be maintained by a proper appreciation and 
suitable acknowledgment. 

OF DESIEES. 

The desires, implanted in us for a wise 
purpose, are, indeed, a part of our nature; 
they should be guided by the dictates of 
reason, for, though they are necessary to our 
support and gratification, unless guided by 
prudence and subjected to a sense of pro- 
priety, they may greatly mislead us : it is, 
therefore, incumbent upon us to distinguish 
between their use and the many abuses they 
are capable of; and, to this end, we shall 
consider the several desires separately, but 
in classification we can only be guided by 
the nature of the various objects desired. 

ANIMAL DESIEES. 

Those we possess in common with the brute 
creation require to be kept under the rigid 



MORAL DUTIES. 57 

control both of reason and conscience. When 
they are allowed to break through these re- 
straints and become leading principles of ac- 
tion, they form a character lowest in the scale 
of rational and moral being. The consequence 
to society is also of the most baneful char- 
acter. Without alluding to the glutton or 
the drunkard, what accumulated guilt, degra- 
dation, and wretchedness follow the course of 
the libertine — blasting whatever comes within 
the reach of his influence, and extending a 
demoralizing power! Although the demoral- 
izing effect of the vicious exercise of this de- 
sire is felt in every community, how to 
place legal restraints has baffled the' earnest 
efforts of legislatures, as well as the benev- 
olent exertions of the philanthropist. That it 
is an injury to society, is universally admitted. 
An injury to society is a crime, but, as crimes 
can only be punished upon sufficient evidence, 
there remains only the condemnation of pub- 
lic opinion and an accusing conscience. As 
all incentives to crime share a part of guilt 
which attaches to the crime itself, lewd con- 
versation, wanton songs, obscene books, pic- 



58 MORAL D UTIES. 

tures, are such incentives ; and few crimes 
within the reach of private wickedness have 
more to answer for or less to plead in their 
excuse. 

RULES FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DE- 
SIRES. 

So control your desires, that you may not 
transgress the law ; you will then avoid its 
punishment. Do not violate your conscience, 
that you may escape remorse. Avoid the 
evils which provoke public condemnation, and 
remember that your crimes are known to an 
all-seeing Grod. Indulge not in lewd conver- 
sation ; it is a violation of decency and an in- 
centive to crime. 

THE DESIRE OF APPROBATION. 

The desire of approbation may be considered 
a laudable feeling — as when a man seeks the 
approbation of others by deeds of benevo- 
lence, public spirit, or patriotism, by actions 
calculated to promote the advantage or com- 



MORAL DUTIES. 59 

fort either of communities or individuals. In 
a healthy exercise of it, a man desires the 
approbation of the good ; in the distorted use 
of it, he seeks only the praise of a party by 
deeds of a frivolous or even vicious character, 
for his own private ends, aims at the ap- 
plause of his associates, or the ignorant, whose 
praise is worthless. The desire of approba- 
tion may exist in either a virtuous or vicious 
mind ; but it is a principle which, in gen- 
eral, we expect to find operating in even r well- 
regulated mind, under certain restrictions. 
Thus a man who is totally regardless of char- 
acter — that, is regardless of the opinion of all 
others respecting his conduct — we commonly 
consider as a man lost to all virtuous feeling. 
The character in which the love of approba- 
tion is a ruling principle is therefore modified 
by the direction of it. To desire the appro- 
bation of the virtuous, leads to a conduct of a 
correspondent kind, and to a steadiness and 
consistency in such conduct ; to seek the ap- 
probation of the vicious, leads, of course, to 
an opposite character. There is another 
modification of the love of approbation, in 



60 MORAL DUTIES. 

which this prevailing principle of man is 
gratified, with little or without any dis- 
crimination of the characters of those whose 
praise he seeks, or of the value of the quali- 
ties fgr which he seeks praise. This is vanity. 
It produces a conduct continually wavering 
and changing with circumstances : he seeks 
praise for trivial things, and is pleased with 
flattery. Our regard for the opinions of 
others, is the sign of respect for our own char- 
acter, particularly in matters that agree with 
high moral principle, and it is of extensive 
influence in promoting the harmonies, pro- 
prieties, and decencies of society. 

It is the foundation of good-breeding, and 
leads to kindness and accommodation in little 
matters which do not belong to the class of 
duties. It is also the source of decorum and 
propriety, which lead a man to conduct him- 
self in a manner becoming his character and 
circumstances. Without the love of approba- 
tion, we may commit acts which, though not 
wrong in themselves, may render us despised 
and ridiculous. It is necessary in life, if we 
wish to arrive at a position of respectability, 



MORAL DUTIES. 61 

that we respect the character of others whose 
esteem we covet, 

RULES FOR THE DESIRE OF APPROBATION. 

Seek not applause for trivial acts, for you 
will only obtain it from the foolish or design- 
ing: the latter will see that your weakness 
is vanity; they will flatter you to gain their 
own ends. 

Our regard for the opinions of others is a 
sign of respect for our own character: he 
who regards not the opinions of others in ref- 
erence to his own character, loses one of the 
incentives to virtue. Conduct yourself with 
courtesy to others, for it conduces to the har- 
mony and decorum of society. Seek not ap- 
probation for things trivial and frivolous, for 
it manifests vanitv and weakness of character. 



THE DESIRE OF EMULATION. 

To aim at the acquirement of preeminence 
is called the desire of emulation. It is a 
propensity of extensive influence, and not 



62 MORAL DUTIES. 

easily confined within the bounds of correct 
principle. It is apt to lead to undue means 
for the accomplishment of its object, and 
every real or imaginary failure tends to ex- 
cite envy and hatred. Hence it requires the 
most careful regulation, and, when much en- 
couraged in the young, is not free from the 
danger of generating malignant passions. 
Its influence and tendency, as in other de- 
sires, depend, in a great measure, on the ob- 
jects to which it is directed. A generous 
emulation is an ardor kindled by the praise- 
worthy examples of others, which impel us 
to imitate, to rival, and, if possible, to excel 
them. This desire involves in it, esteem of 
the person whose attainments or conduct 
we emulate, of the qualities and actions in 
which we emulate him, and a desire of re- 
semblance, together with the joy springing 
from the hope of success. Emulation ad- 
mires great actions, and strives to imitate 
them; it is opposed to envy, which refuses 
the praise that is due to others. Emulation 
is generous, and only seeks to rival or to sur- 
pass a rival; envy is low, and only seeks to 



MORAL DUTIES. 63 

lessen and traduce, and gives rise to hatred 
and revenge. Emulation, rightly directed, is 
a virtue to be encouraged; envy is a vice to 
be shunned. 

EULES OF THE DESIKE OF EMULATION. 

Emulate praiseworthy actions, and, if pos- 
sible, excel them ; it is the road to honor. 
Give praise to great and noble actions, for 
they are worthy of admiration. Shun envy 
for it inspires hatred, and often brings shame. 
Seek to excel in all that is good and honor- 
able ; to excel in wickedness, fraud, and cun- 
ning is detestable, but to excel in virtue de- 
serves the highest praise, and insures that 
felicity which is the effect of an approving 
conscience. 

AMBITION. 

The love of power or the desire to rule is 
called ambition. It finds gratification in pre- 
dominating a circle, whether it be more or 
less extensive, and, like all other desires, is li- 
able to misdirection. When it becomes the 



64 MORAL DUTIES. 

governing propensity, the strongest principles 
of human nature give way before it. This 
.one predominating desire overrides every 
'consideration ; it disregards justice, it disre- 
gards honesty, substitutes deceit for candor, 
envy for emulation, and love of self for love 
of country. It makes it its business, by fac- 
tions and bribery, to form a strong party, 
and rather chooses to be uppermost by force 
and injustice, than equal to others by fair 
and upright means. Thus we see the con- 
queror brave every danger, difficulty, and 
privation, for the attainment of power, and, 
when he has obtained it, seeks its further ex- 
tension by war, spreading desolation in his 
path, and laying whole countries waste. Hu- 
man life and human suffering give him no 
concern; his whole being is absorbed in this 
one desire of self-aggrandizement. But while 
this desire, when misdirected, is a most hei- 
nous vice, the principle assumes another form 
when it takes another direction and aims at 
a higher object — such as the desire of exer- 
cising power over men to promote deeds of 
usefulness. Those only are truly great who, 



MORAL DUTIES. 65 

under the direction of wisdom, prudence, and 
good conscience, deem that only to be honor 
and credit which consists in real and intrin- 
sically good actions, and who are not so 
eager of appearing to be greater and better 
than others as of really, being so. But he 
that is so mean as to find his chief gratifica- 
tion in the applause of a giddy or ignorant 
multitude, in preference to the sublime feel- 
ing of conscious rectitude, ought never to be 
accounted a truly great spirit, but only an 
example of small talents united with the 
great weakness, and the foolish desire of ap- 
plause. Although he may have committed 
acts of daring, they deserve only the name 
of foolharcliness, for true courage is based 
upon wisdom, which only encounters danger 
for worthy objects. 

EULES OF AMBITION. 

Gruard against undue ambition, for it is the 

cause of many inquietudes. Let your aim be 

to excel in virtue and wisdom, and you will 

gain the applause of just men. Beware of 

5 



66 MORAL DUTIES. 

selfish ambition, for it is an atrocious vice; 
and, however great you may become by un- 
worthy means, though the foolish may applaud, 
you will have the condemnation of your own 
conscience and the reprobation of good men, 
and will have provoked the wrath of an 
offended God. Reckless and selfish ambition 
should ever be reprobated and despised, be- 
cause of the ruin it inevitably occasions. 

THE DESIEE OF WEALTH. 

The desire of wealth is a universal motive ; 
the necessities of our nature, in civil society, 
demand at least sufficient for the supply 
of our wants. INTor should the necessaries 
of our nature be the limit of our desires, be- 
cause, in the constitution of society, by mis- 
fortune or sickness many are placed in 
circumstances to need the help of their fellow- 
men ; therefore this desire may be culti- 
vated within reasonable limits, to enable us to 
perform those acts of benevolence which are 
natural to every man whose moral condition is 
not corrupted. In order to gratify this desire, it 



MORAL D UTIJES. 67 

is first necessary to acquire knowledge, in 
order that we may with efficiency fill the 
position in society in which circumstances 
may place us ; and the more we can do that 
is useful to society the greater will be our 
chance of reward. But whatever we do for 
the purpose of acquiring wealth, let us be 
guided by the rules of justice and integrity, 
and not be too eager in its pursuit, lest we 
fall into avarice, which is an inordinate or 
excessive abuse of this desire. Avarice is a 
vice which engrosses the whole character, 
acquiring strength by continuance, and is gen- 
erally accompanied by a contracted selfishness, 
which considers nothing too mean or too un- 
worthy that can be made to contribute to the 
ruling passion ; and, if it breaks through the 
restraints of justice, it leads to fraud, extor- 
tion, deceit, and wrong, and, under another 
form, to theft or robbery. 

God has plainly designed the happiness of 
his creatures ; hence it is a right and a duty 
for them to get all the money they can, con- 
sistently with obedience to the law of the 
land and the moral laws, for the purpose of 



68 MORAL D UTIES* 

furnishing necessary support for themselves 
and families, and for the exercise of benevo- 
lence toward those in need, as well as for 
a moderate indulgence of a cultivated taste, 
and to enable us to take part in those great 
and useful enterprises which benefit and enno- 
ble our country. 

RULES FOR THE DESIRE OF WEALTH. 

Acquire knowledge, that you may be quali- 
fied to conduct the business of life with pru- 
dence and success. Get money by every 
honest means, to supply the wants of nature, 
to indulge moderately in the gratification of a 
cultivated taste, to be able to discharge those 
duties of benevolence which the constitution 
of society renders necessary, and to take part 
in those great and useful enterprises which en- 
rich and ennoble our countrv. Avoid an inor- 
clinate eagerness after wealth, which is called 
avarice, for this is a most despicable vice. 



MORAL DUTIES. 69 

THE DESIEE OF KNOWLEDGE. 

This desire is strongly implanted in our 
nature, and may lead to highly useful pur- 
poses, but, like other desires, may be directed 
to unworthy objects, and sometimes Is so neg- 
lected as to lead to degrading ignorance. 
After storing the mind with such things as 
our circumstances and early education per- 
mit, and which has, or should have been, the 
charge of our parents, our attention should 
first be directed to such knowledge as is 
necessary to supply the wants of our nature ; 
and, in approaching this consideration, we 
shall become sensible of the many obligations 

%J o 

we owe to parents, who have taken care of us 
during our infancy, supplied our wants, and 
taken care of our moral training; and, now 
that it is necessary to prepare for the business 
of life, it becomes of the highest importance 
that this desire should be properly guided to 
objects which concern our future welfare. 
We should deeply impress our minds with 
the importance of the rich and inestimable 
advantage of right reasoning, and the vast 



70 MORAL DUTIES. 

consequence of sound judgment; and these 
can only be acquired by such studies as call 
forth the exercise of the reasoning powers. 
We must examine into the motives of men, 
consider the weaknesses, failings, and mistakes 
of human nature, and not be satisfied with 
a slight view of things, but to take a wide 
survey, for it is by a knowledge of the his- 
tory of the past, that we gain vantage ground 
as a starting-point in our career. JSTo one is 
expected to know every thing, but it is neces- 
sary for every one, after laying in a tolerable 
stock of ideas, to direct his attention to some 
special pursuit by which he means to support 
himself; for he will obtain little honor, 
however diversified may be his learning, 
unless he is qualified to fill with tolerable 
efficiency some place in society. .Those 
whose means place them beyond the necessity 
of providing for their own support and a 
moderate indulgence of their taste, the search 
after knowledge furnishes infinite satisfaction, 
and fits them to be an example to others who 
are less fortunate. Superior wisdom and the 
practice of virtue are the only real and 



MORAL DUTIES. 71 

worthy distinctions that can raise men above 
the common level. To be rich and ignorant 
is a pitiable condition, for it leads to folly and 
frivolity. It places persons out of their 
proper sphere : they attempt, by extravagant 
dress and lavish expenditure, to attract atten- 
tion, and, when the public gaze is directed to 
them, they are pleased with the notoriety — 
they receive as distinction what, in reality, is 
only ridicule ; and when their riches have been 
dishonestly gained, their vain show is like set- 
ting up Folly and Vice on a pedestal, to excite 
scorn and contempt. It is true that men are 
born equal, but that equality is soon destroyed, 
when one cultivates his talents and his tastes 
and lives a virtuous life, while another, neg- 
lecting all culture, lives a life of ignorance, 
vice, and crime : the first exalts himself, and 
gains the admiration of men ; the latter de- 
grades himself almost to the level of the 
brutes, and excites pity or contempt. Hence 
it will be seen that social equality is an im- 
possibility, and is one of those popular errors 
which lead to many impertinences by those 
Who, from ignorance, mistake that equality 



7% MORAL DUTIES. 

before the law, which a free government 
secures to every citizen, and is Ms right, for 
social equality, to which, from want of culture, 
want of virtue, and dissolute habits, there are 
many who can have no just claim. 

RULES FOR THE DESIRE OF KNOWLEDGE. 

Our attention should be first directed to 
acquire such knowledge as will improve our 
reasoning powers. We should be acquainted 
with history, and hence learn the motives 
and actions of men under peculiar and impor- 
tant circumstances, and what the results. 
We should study some special pursuit, by 
which to support ourselves. We should prac- 
tice virtue, be firm in our integrity, and 
qualify ourselves to fill with credit any posi- 
tion we may attain to; and, if we have lei- 
sure, the search after knowledge in the wide 
range of science will afford infinite satisfac- 
tion — raise us to distinction, on account of our 
usefulness and virtues. 



MORAL DUTIES. 73 

\ 

THE DEFENSIVE AFFECTIONS. 

The feelings of anger and resentment are 
not to be left out of consideration, in treating 
of our moral constitution. These feelings are 
calculated to fulfill important purposes in our 
intercourse with men. Their proper object 
is a sense of unworthy conduct in others, and 
they lead us to take proper measures to de- 
fend ourselves against injury. Scandalous 
conduct is generally punishable by law; as 
members of society, we are entitled to protec- 
tion; to defend ourselves is a natural right; 
but, in entering into society, we have ceded 
that right. Anger when joined to revenge is 
a compound of sorrow and malignity — sorrow 
for an unprovoked injury, and a feeling of re- 
sentment. But resentment is apt, under great 
provocation, to run into excess, when it be- 
comes revenge, which we should endeavor to 
avoid. Revenge is a passion which all must 
detest, for malignity is ever deemed an ag- 
gravation of offense. The man who retires 
to meditate mischief and to exasperate his 
own rage, whose thoughts are employed only 



74 MORAL DUTIES. 

on means of distress and contrivances of ruin, 
whose mind never pauses from the remem- 
brance of his own sufferings but to indulge 
in some hope of enjoying the calamities of 
another, may be justly numbered among the 
-nost miserable of human beings — among 
those who have neither the gladness of pros- 
perity nor the calm of innocence. Private 
vengeance is a breach against the public 
peace, and belongs rather to savage life than 
civilized society. It is a violation of public 
law, without the sanction of necessity, for 
what necessity can be urged where wise 
laws, with properly organized executive offi- 
cers, extend their power to the remotest part 
of the land, giving security to the humblest 
dwelling, and protection and redress to every 
citizen whose person, character, or rights 
have been assailed, or whose property may 
have suffered damage. No man has a right 
to be judge, jury, and executive in his own 
case — to measure the amount of his damage 
and meet the amount of punishment; it is 
one of the rights he has ceded for the consid- 
eration of the protection of law and the en- 



MORAL DUTIES. 75 

joyment of many blessings which civilized 
society confers upon its members. The de- 
fensive affections suggest caution in our inter- 
course with men, make us conscious of any 
wrong we suffer, and urge us to seek the 
proper redress, and, in extraordinary cases of 
personal danger, impel us to resistance. 

RULES FOR THE DEFENSIVE AFFECTIONS. 

Let not your feelings of anger or resent- 
ment impel you to too hasty a retaliation- 
wrongs are sometimes only fancied and some- 
times not intended — by hasty retaliation we 
may do great injustice. We must not take 
personal vengeance, for it is a breach of law, 
which should be respected, for it is the only 
security we have for our life, liberty, person, 
and property. We must suppress feelings 
of revenge, for it has so much of malignity 
that it is a detestable vice ; it seeks only the in- 
jury of others, which is infamous wickedness. 

Let our sense of wrong teach us caution ; 
but trust to the law for redress, except in 
cases of extreme emergency and peril. 



76 MORAL DUTIES. 



OF VIKTUE. 



Virtue is the practice of moral duties 
agreeable to the inward law — that is, conform- 
able to our moral feelings. These inward 
feelings are as much a part of our constitu- 
tion, as are the outward senses. The sense 
of touch or feeling conveys to us a knowledge 
that a certain body is hard or soft ; the moral 
sense informs us whether an action is right 
or wrong. The eye discerns color ; the sense 
of justice teaches us not only our own rights, 
but also the rights of our fellow-men. The 
sense of hearing enables us to distinguish 
sounds ; compassion and benevolence make 
us sensible of the sorrows of others and im- 
pel us to give assistance. Thus all the sev- 
eral inward feelings have their own proper of- 
fice, and each, in its particular way, influences 
our action. It is by the moral sense that we 
know what virtue is, and what is vice; and 
upon this sense is based many of the law r s 
of civil society, particularly that part of law 
called " equity," which is, in fact, only a con- 
scientious sense of justice. 



MORAL DUTIES. 77 

These inward senses I have endeavored to 
describe in the preceding pages. By the ex- 
ercise of these in the manner indicated, and 
restraining them within reasonable bounds, 
we discharge our moral duty. Without re- 
straint, these impulses are apt to lead to ex- 
cess ; and this is called vice. 

We will proceed to point out what are the 
obligations of moral dutv. As being's having 
life, we must preserve and nourish it, and for 
this purpose, we must provide ourselves with 
food, clothing, and shelter. We must avoid 
whatever would injure our health or impair 
our strength. As intellectual beings, we must 
cultivate our intellectual faculties. The gift 
of intellect should be prized for its own sake, 
as well as for the uses to which it may be 
applied. As moral beings, we have to culti- 
vate the moral susceptibilities, accustom our- 
selves to attend promptly and faithfully to the 
dictates of conscience. Man ow T es it to him- 
self and to society to be chaste — not in act 
only, but in imagination and purpose; to be 
truthful in what he says ; to be moderate in 
his desires, not giving way to covetousness, 



78 MORAL DUTIES. 

ambition, or vain display ; to be humble — not 
only in his relation to others, but within his 
own soul; to avoid apathy and slothfulness. 
These duties are suggested by our moral feel- 
ings, and, when we act in harmony with these, 
we act virtuously. 

In the ordinary business of life it is im- 
possible for men to stop to adjust every 
action; therefore these moral feelings are 
wisely made a part of our constitution — are 
brought constantly into use, and form a ready 
and excellent test by which our actions may 
be tried. It may be thought by some who 
view the matter superficially that virtue may 
be an enemy to a man's fortune, in the present 
state of things. But what should prevent a 
virtuous man from obtaining all that can be 
obtained by others of less scrupulous charac- 
ter ? He can not cringe or fawn, it is true, 
but he can be as obliging, as a knave ; and surely 
his civility is more alluring, because it has 
more manliness and grace, than the mean 
adulation of the other. He can not cheat or 
undermine, but he may be cautious, provident, 
watchful of occasions, and equally prompt 



MORAL DUTIES. 70 

with the rogue in improving them; whereas 
what is called cunning, which is the offspring 
of ignorance and companion of knavery, is not 
only a meanrspirited but a short-sighted talent, 
and an obstacle in the way of business. , It 
may procure, indeed, immediate and petty 
gains, but it is attended with dreadful abate- 
ments, which sink his credit when discovered. 
It is therefore easy to see how much a man's 
credit and reputation, and, consequently, his 
success, depend on his honest virtue. People 
love better to deal with him ; they can trust 
him more ; they know he will not impose on 
them, nor take advantage of them, and can 
depend more on his word than on the oath 
and strongest securities of the other. Hence 
our commonest interest dictates the practice 
of moral conduct, and, if we acid to this the 
self-approving joy which arises from a con- 
scientious discharge of our duty in accordance 
with the right exercise of our moral feeling, 
we experience as great an amount of happi- 
ness as human nature is capable of receiving ; 
and fortunate, indeed, must he be who can 



80 MORAL DUTIES. 

arrive at and maintain so desirable and so 
exalted a satisfaction. 

KULES OF VIKTUE. 

We must practice justice, integrity, benev- 
olence, and compassion, because it is our duty 
to our fellow-men and agreeable to our own 
sense of right. 

We must be candid, truthful, and grateful 
to friends, for it is the reciprocation of those 
feelings that makes friendship enduring. 

We must regulate our desires and keep 
them within the bounds of moderation, be- 
cause, carried to excess, they defeat their own 
ends, and are hurtful to ourselves, as well as 
to society. 

We must fulfill our duty to parents by obe- 
dience, veneration, and affection, from grati- 
tude for the many obligations we owe them. 

We must discharge with fidelity our duty 
to ourselves, in providing for wants of our 
nature, and cultivate our intellect for the many 
beneficent uses to which it may be applied. 

We must accustom ourselves to attend 



MORAL B UTIES. 81 

promptly to the dictates of conscience, for by 
this we are guided to act in accordance with 
the rules of moral rectitude, which lead to 
happiness. 

" Know thou this truth (enough for man to know) : 
Virtue alone is happiness below." 

HAPPINESS 

Is the agreeable sensation which springs 
from the enjoyment of good. The word 
happy is a relative term — any condition may 
be denominated happy in which the amount 
of aggregate pleasure exceeds that of pain — 
and the degree of happiness depends on the 
quantity of excess. Perhaps there is noth- 
ing which conduces more to happiness than 
the exercise of the social affections, as those 
persons usually possess the best spirits who 
have about them many objects of affection 
and endearment, as wife, children, kindred, 
friends, and those are least happy who are 
deprived of these social relations. 

Absolute happiness is only known by name 
on earth. When we speak of a man as being 



82 MORAL DUTIES. 

happy, we mean only that he is happier than 
others with wIiqiii we compare him, or than 
the generality of others, or than he himself 
was in some other situation. Happiness does 
not consist in the pleasures of sense, as eat- 
ing, drinking, music, painting, or witnessing 
exhibitions, etc., for these pleasures continue 
only for a little while — by repetition lose their 
relish, and by high expectations often bring 
disappointment; nor does happiness consist 
in an exemption from labor or the cares of 
business, such a state being usually attended 
with depression of spirits, imaginary anxie- 
ties, and the whole train of hypochondriacal 
affections ; nor is it to be found in greatness, 
rank, or elevated stations, as is abundantly 
manifested by daily experience; happiness 
consists in healthy, congenial occupation — to 
effect a good purpose, with a probable prospect 
of accomplishing your object— also of having 
lived a virtuous life, of having performed 
benevolent actions, and of the satisfaction 
thereon. 

JNTo plentitude of present gratification can 
make a person happy for -a continuance, unless 



MORAL DUTIES. 83 

he have something in reserve — something to 
look forward to. But hope, which thus ap- 
pears to be of so much importance to our 
happiness, is of two kinds : where there is 
something to be done toward the obtaining 
our hope, and where there is nothing to be 
done. The first alone is of any value the 
latter being apt to produce impatience, hav- 
ing no power but to sit still and wait. This 
soons grows tiresome. Hence those pleas- 
ures which are most valuable are not those 
which are most exquisite in their fruition, but 
those which are most productive in engage- 
ment and pursuit. 

A great source of happiness may be found 
in well formed habits. The luxurious receive 
no greater pleasures from their dainties than 
the poor man from his humble diet. The 
poor man whenever he goes abroad finds a 
feast ; the epicure must be well entertained to 
escape disgust. The one is contented with 
healthy food which is readily obtainable ; the 
other, accustomed to dainties, can seldom be 
gratified, and is filled with disappointment. 
Health is important to happiness ; therefore 



84 MORAL DUTIES. 






frugal living — that is, temperance both in 
eating and drinking — is necessary to happi- 
ness, as it is conducive to health. 

The conditions of happiness may be said 
to be : a uniform conduct in conformity- to 
our moral feelings, the exercise of the social 
affections, the pursuit of some engaging end, 
a prudent constitution of our habits, and the 
enjoyment of health. These are the earthly 
objects, in the pursuit of happiness ; but we 
have still higher motives, which impel us to 
pursue a virtuous life, and to which I shall 
advert to in the next section on moral duties. 

KULES OF HAPPINESS. 

Be careful to cultivate the social affections, 
for in the proper exercise of these depend the 
harmony of domestic life. 

Seek not happiness by over indulgence in 
eating or drinking, for they destroy health, 
and good health is necessary to happiness. 

Adopt some honorable pursuit, for it is 
occupation and the hope of success which af- 
fords the greatest satisfaction. 



MORAL D UTIES. 85 

Let your conduct be in conformity with 
your moral feelings, that you may have the 
satisfaction of the approval of your con- 
science, and that your life may be acceptable 
to God, who delights in the happiness of his 
creatures. 

We must be just in our dealings, active 
in our benevolence, w T arm in our friend- 
ships, moderate in our desires, temperate in 
our resentments, affectionate in our domestic 
intercourse, steadfast in doing good. The uni- 
versal practice of these duties will be pro- 
ductive of our own happiness and the happi- 
ness of our fellow-beings. 

THE DEFICIENCIES OF MORAL JUSTICE ON 
EAKTH COMPENSATED BY REWARDS AND 
PUNISHMENTS IN AFTER-LIFE. 

It must be admitted that wicked men 
often escape the punishment due to their 
crimes, and sometimes do not feel that agony 
of conscience which the character of their 
vices might be expected to create — partly 
from the callousness induced upon their na- 



86 MORAL DUTIES. 

tures by habits of vice, and partly from the 
continuous dissipation in which their lives 
are spent, which leaves them no time for re- 
flection. And sometimes good men do not 
reap all the fruits of their virtue, but are in- 
volved in many unforeseen and unavoidable 
calamities. Upon the smallest reflection, 
however, it is obvious that the natural ten- 
dency of virtue is to produce happiness ; and, 
if it were universally practiced, it would, in 
fact, produce the greatest sum of happiness 
of which human nature is capable of experi- 
encing. This tendency of virtue is in accor- 
dance with the natural constitution of man 
as established by the Creator — therefore, it 
would be extravagantly absurd to suppose 
that the designs of infinite Wisdom, Good- 
ness, and Power, can be defeated by the per- 
verse conduct of human weakness— and, as a 
natural and only alternative, we have to con- 
clude that there is a future state, where the 
moral deficiencies' will be rectified. And this 
gives a further inducement to virtue, to know 
that an impartial God is judge of our ac- 
tions, and who will reward us according to 



MORAL DUTIES, 87 

the measure of our virtues, and punish us ac- 
cording to the measure of our vices ; and 
that that reward and that punishment will 
be eternal. 

The moral relations of man toward the 
Deity might well form a chapter here ; but, 
as this belongs to the theologians, I have 
concluded to leave it to their hands. The 
end I have had in view has been to aid vir- 
tue on earth, which can not but be accept- 
able to our Father ivho is in Heaven. 

CONCLUDING OBSEKVATIONS ON THE MOEAL 

DUTIES. 

In morals the chief end is obtained when 
we have learned to justly estimate worthy 
causes for the energy of our moral feelings, 
since the regulation of these feelings is of 
the utmost importance to virtue and happi- 
ness. We are all prompted by nature to pur- 
sue what is agreeable and avoid what is 
painful ; and, when the moral feelings have 
been properly cultivated, we feel pleasure in 
doing right, and we feel pain in doing wrong ; 



88 MORAL DUTIES* 

we are pleased with the beauty of virtue, and 
we are pained at the deformity of vice; and, 
by these impulses, we are deterred from ex- 
kess, and restrained within the bounds of 
propriety. 

It has been thought by some that pleas- 
ure, or what is to our interest, is the chief 
good, because both pleasure and profit are 
the things most desired. Were man in a 
state of solitude, separated from all inter- 
course with society, perhaps his natural in- 
stincts would lead him to this conclusion; 
this would be the virtue of the savage ; but it 
is widely different when he becomes a mem- 
ber of society. In a community governed 
by just laws, made by the lawful representa- 
tives of the people composing such a commu- 
nity, all its members have a common inter 
est ; each is, as it were, a partner ; and there- 
fore the pleasure and interest of the whole 
body have to be considered, for what may 
cause pleasure to one may give pain to 
many ; hence we are not always at liberty to 
pursue our own pleasure, particularly when, 
by doing so, we may cause injury to others. 



MORAL DUTIES. 89 

Moreover, pleasure can not be the chief 
good, for pleasure, combined with virtue, is 
greater than pleasure alone, and, what is 
chief or supreme, admits of no mixture or 
addition. But though pleasure is not the 
chief good, we are not to reject subordinate 
joys, for these, often repeated, help to fill the 
measure of bliss which is allotted to each, 
and, if not hurtful, there can be no reason why 
they should not be enjoyed. We admit that 
every innocent pleasure is a portion of hap- 
piness, but not all the happiness we are ca- 
pable of receiving, for if happiness consists 
in mere recreative pastime, then all our se- 
rious exertions and strenuous labors have a 
very frivolous end. Yet pleasures have 
their usefulness, and are profitable. The 
weakness of human nature requires frequent 
remissions of energy; but these rests and 
pauses, are only the better to prepare us for 
enjoying the pleasures of activity. The 
amusements of life, therefore, are a part of 
its business, when they are so regulated as 
to give additional energy to virtuous actions, 
which constitute the worth and dignity of 



90 MORAL DUTIES. 

our nature. That the pleasures which grat- 
ify one, should be rejected and spurned by 
another, is not to be wondered at, as human 
nature is subject to corruptions and depravi- 
ties of many kinds, and each individual will 
delight in the pleasures akin to his own par- 
ticular depravity. Pleasures are not a suffi- 
cient basis for virtue and happiness ; they are 
too evanescent; yet they may be an ingredi- 
ent in both. Those pleasures, only, contribute 
to happiness which will bear reflection- — that 
is, the reflection -of which satisfies the con- 
science. The moral senses are essential to 
man in social intercourse; it is by these we 
are cognizant of our social duties, and that 
the individual passions are regulated, and, 
when properly adjusted, are an ornament to 
those affected by them and beneficial to the 
public. 

Though the moral force is too feeble and 
insufficient to control the multitude, vet it 
will have an influence over ingenuous minds ; 
well disciplined youth may thereby be re- 
tained in the paths of honor ; but the corrupt, 
on whom conscience has no binding influence, 



MORAL DUTIES. 91 

can not be restrained by the dread of shame, 
but only by the fear of punishment ; their 
lives are spent in sensual pleasures, and they 
have no taste nor perception of refined and 
laudable enjoyments. Instruction will not 
succeed with men so brutified, unless the 
mind is previously wrought upon by custom. 
Before virtue, then, can be acquired, affec- 
tions congenial to it must be implanted — the 
love of justice and self-respect, and hatred of 
baseness and depravity, established. But this 
can only be done by a good system of educa- 
tion, which it is the duty of the State to pro- 
vide, and, when these fail, there then remains 
nothing but, by law, to impose such punish- 
ments and discipline as are calculated to 
bring the wayward to subjection, or to place 
them where their example may not infect 
and scandalize the public, and where society 
may be safe from their depredations. 

These subjects will be treated of in the 
Second Part, which contains the Civil Duties, 



THE CIVIL DUTIES: 



SHOWING 



WHENCE THEY ARISE AND WHERE THEY 
TERMINATE. 



PART SECOND 



CIVIL DUTIES-WHENCE THEY ARISE. 



The duties of civil life are derived- from 
man's necessities as a social being and a mem- 
ber of a civilized community. Man in a state 
of nature has certain rights. These natural 
rights consist in the enjoyment and exercise 
of a power to do what we may think proper, 
without any other restraint than what results 
from the law of nature, or what may be de- 
nominated the moral law. But as, in a state 
of nature, each individual must be the pro- 
tector of his own rights and the avenger of 
his own wrongs, without claim on his fellow- 
creatures for assistance, mankind have found 
it necessary to give up this species of liberty 
and unite in society for mutual assistance, 
protection, and defense ; hence the origin of 

(95) 



96 CIVIL DUTIES. 

civil rights. To define these rights, and to 
deduce the duties arising out of them, will 
form the subject of the succeeding chapters; 
but it will be convenient to first take a cur- 
sory view of civil government generally. 

OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL. 

The earliest forms of human government, 
there can be no doubt, were patriarchal, or 
military — as that of a father over his family, 
or of a commander over his fellow-warriors. 
Paternal authority and the order of domestic 
life supplied the foundation of civil govern- 
ment. A family contains the rudiments of 
an empire; for did mankind spring out of 
the ground mature and independent, it would 
be found very difficult to introduce subjection 
and subordination among them. 

A second source of personal authority, and 
which might easily extend and supersede the 
patriarchal, is that which results from mili- 
tary arrangement. In wars, either of aggres- 
sion or of defense, manifest necessity would 
prompt those who fought on the same side to 



CIVIL DUTIES. 9 7 

array themselves under one leader; and. 
although their leader was advanced to this 
eminence for the purpose of managing the 
operations of one expedition, yet his authority 
would not terminate with the reasons for 
which it was conferred. A warrior who had 
led forth his tribe against their enemies 
with repeated success, would procure to him- 
self, even in the deliberations of peace, a pow- 
erful and perhaps permanent influence ; and 
if this advantage were added to the authority 
of a patriarchal chief, or favored by any pre- 
vious distinction of ancestry, it would be no 
difficult undertaking, among a rude and igno- 
rant people, to obtain an almost absolute 
direction of the affairs of such a communitv. 
The influence of association with a person thus 
distinguished communicates to his son a 
portion of the same respect; and hence, per- 
haps, has arisen hereditary dominion; while 
thirst for power, common to human nature, 
has led to aggressive wars for the purpose 
of aggrandizement and the perpetuation of 
an absolute rule. The easier to accomplish 
this purpose, it has ever been the policy of 
7 



98 CIVIL DUTIES. 

those in power to associate with, them men of 
influence, by lavishing rewards and distinc- 
tions upon them. This forms a common in- 
terest, and thereby strengthens their position ; 
and to such an extent has this principle 
obtained, that mankind has been brought into 
subjection and subordination, until it has been 
asserted and believed that a division of man- 
kind into classes, and the subordination of 
one to the other, was necessary to civilization, 
and the only security against anarchy. To 
maintain this system of government, heredi- 
tary titles of nobility have been created, the 
public domain lavishly given away, and se- 
cured to the recipients by the laws of primo- 
geniture and entail. The hereditary privilege 
to legislate has been given to the adherents 
of the crown, and the people have been 
required to obey laws which have been made, 
not only without, but also against, their 
consent. The people have been taught that 
God had appointed the different conditions 
of men ; that they must be contented in the 
situation He had placed them; that rulers 
have been placed over them by His grace; 



CIVIL DUTIES. 99 

that they ruled by Divine Right. Well 
may philosophers express their wonder at 
the universal subjugation of strength to weak- 
ness, to see many millions of robust men, in 
complete use and exercise of their personal 
faculties, and without any defect of courage, 
waiting upon the will of a child, a woman, 
a driveler, or a lunatic. Yet such has been 
the character of the Old World's civilization — - 
and has its advocates and enthusiastic ad- 
herents to the present day. From this sad 
picture of human institutions let us turn to 
the Government of the United States. 



OF THE GOVEKTOIEXT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The. United States of North America is one 
of the most powerful, commercial, and wealthy 
nations of the globe ; is distinguished for the 
freedom and excellence of its political institu- 
tions. Unlike the institutions of the old 
world, it has no hereditary monarch, no he- 
reditary nobility, no privileged class, no 
state church, yet religious instruction and 
observances are as faithfuily dispensed and 



100 CIVIL DUTIES. 

performed as in any country in the world. 
All the fictions, traditions, and machinery of 
the Old World governments have been cast 
aside, and a government established on the 
principle that "all men are created equal; 
that they are endowed by the Creator with 
certain inalienable rights ; that among these 
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. " 
"To secure these," it is declared, "govern- 
ments are instituted among men;" but it may 
be here observed, that the United States Gov- 
ernment was the first government, that ever 
was instituted for such a purpose, or ever pro- 
fessed to be instituted for such a purpose. 

The establishment of the Government on 
these principles, was a bold departure from 
every form of civilization that had ever 
existed ; yet the result of nearly one hundred 
years of the greatest progress in population 
and wealth that ever was known, has proved 
the wisdom of its founders, has established a 
nation blessed above all others, has afforded 
to the oppressed of all nations a safe asylum 
from political persecution, and has given 
profitable employment to millions of the in- 



CIVIL DUTIES. 101 

dustrial poor, who, being crowded out by the 
over-population of some of the European 
nations, have sought a home on our hospitable 
shores, where they are received without ques- 
tion — aided, if in need — free lands are at 
their disposal, if they desire to settle upon 
them, free schools for their children ; and, 
after five-years residence, they become free 
citizens, if they have renounced their former 
allegiance and declared their intention to be- 
come citizens of the United States ; they are 
then entitled to all the privileges, and assume 
all the duties, the same as native citizens ; are 
eligible to be elected to any office of the gov- 
ernment, except those of President and Vice- 
President, and are, as American citizens, 
wherever they may wander, entitled to all the 
protection which the Government of the 
United States can extend. 

It is remarkable, indeed, few things in all 
history seem to be more striking than the 
power of the institutions of the United States, 
to assimilate different and discordant national- 
ities. Every year, several hundred thousand 
immigrants arrive, from different countries, 



102 CIVIL DUTIES. 

accustomed to different forms of government, 
often ignorant and bigoted, yet the institutions 
of our country, absorb and assimilate all as in- 
tegral parts of our polity. In 'no other polit- 
ical system could this be done ; such additions 
could not be allowed ; and herein is presented one 
of the grandest and wholly unimpeachable evi- 
dences of the superiority of our institutions. 
Such is the Government of the United 
States, under which we live. All its powers 
are derived from the consent of the governed. 
Its duration and prosperity must depend on 
the virtue of its citizens. To aid in the cul- 
tivation of $ knowledge of the duties of 
citizens, to encourage patriotism by inculcat- 
ing virtue, and a faithful performance of the 
civil duties, is the object of the present w r ork. 

DIVISION OF POWERS. 

The division and limitation of the pow- 
ers of government, have been most happily 
provided for by the Constitution of the United 
States. The political powers are : those of 
framing or altering the Constitution, of elect- 



CIVIL DUTIES. 103 

ing President, Vice-President, and Members 
of Congress. These are retained by the people. 
The administration of the laws is intrusted 
to the President and the heads of depart- 
ments. To the judiciary is committed the 
administration of justice. The treaty-making 
power is given to the President, but all 
treaties require to be confirmed by the 
Senate. To Congress belongs the power to 
frame laws, to regulate commerce, to coin 
money, and regulate the value thereof, and 
fix the standard of weights and measures. 
The peace and protection of the country de- 
volves upon the army and navy,, under the 
direction of the President, who is Commander- 
in-chief: but these can onlv be called into 
action when the civil powers are insufficient — 
the military is always- subordinate to the 
civil power. By these wise provisions the 
powers of the Government are so distributed 
that no individual is trusted with so much 
power as to become dangerous to the com- 
monwealth ; ea.ch power is a check upon the 
other, but each is secure in the exercise of 
the particular business assigned to it, from 



104 CIVIL DUTIES. 

encroachments of all. So skillfully are all 
the parts of the Government contrived, that it 
only requires moderate capacity and zeal, 
with ordinary integrity, for any of its citizens 
to fill with tolerable efficiency the various 
offices of the Government. 



TO KNOW THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED 
STATES IS THE DUTY OF EVEKY CITIZEN. 

In order to properly discharge the duties 
of a citizen, it behooves every one to be 
acquainted with the constitution, or funda- 
mental law of the country in which he lives. 
This information is easy to be obtained in 
the United States, because it has a written 
constitution— an advantage which no other 
country possesses. Although some partial and 
imperfect attempts have been made by Euro- 
pean governments to supply this deficiency, 
yet no written fundamental law exists at this 
day. In the Constitution of the United States 
provision is made how it may be amended to 
meet the wants of the progressive develop- 
ment of the country and people. 



CIVIL DUTIES. 105 

By this wise provision, even the funda- 
mental law may be changed without occasion- 
ing turbulence or violence. Whatever the 
varying circumstances of the age, the laws may 
be adapted to meet any exigency; and yet 
they are guarded by sufficient checks to pre- 
vent hasty legislation ; and the amendments, 
made in accordance with the provisions of 
the Constitution, become of the same binding 
authority as if they had formed a part of the 
original instrument. 

To appreciate the value of a written con- 
stitution, it is only necessary to view the 
chaos that exists in the organic laws of 
European nations, which, are well described 
by Paley, as follows : 

"Most of those w r ho treat of the British 
constitution consider it as a scheme of gov- 
ernment formerly planned and contrived by 
our ancestors in some certain era of our 
national history, and as set up in pursuance 
of such regular plan and design. Something 
of this sort is secretly supposed or referred 
to in the expressions of those who speak of 
the 'principles of the constitution/ of bring- 



106 CIVIL DUTIES. 

ing back the constitution to its ' first princi- 
ples/ of restoring it to its 'original purity' 
or 'primitive model.' Now, this appears to 
me an erroneous conception of the subject. 
No such plan was ever formed ; consequently 
no such first principles, original model, or 
standard, exist. I mean, there never was a 
date or point of time in our history when 
the government of England was to be set up 
anew, and w T hen it was referred to a single 
person, or assembly, or committee, to frame 
a charter for the future government of the 
country, or when a constitution so prepared 
and digested was by common consent re- 
ceived and established. In the time of the 
civil wars, or rather between the death of 
Charles the First and the restoration of his 
son, many such projects were published, but 
none were carried into execution. The Great 
Charter and the Bill of Rights were wise and 
strenuous efforts to obtain security against 
certain abuses of regal power, by which the 
subject had been formerly aggrieved. But 
these were, either of them, mnch too partial 
modifications of the constitution to give it a 



CIVIL DUTIES. 107 

hew original. The constitution of England, 
ike that of most other countries of Europe, 
hath grown out of occasion and emergency, 
Tom the fluctuating policy of different ages ; 
Tom the contentions, successes, interests, and 
opportunities of different orders and parties 
of men in the community. It resembles one 
of those old mansions which, instead of being- 
built at once after a regular plan, and accord- 
ing to the rules of architecture at present es- 
tablished, has been reared in different ages 
of the art, has been altered from time to 
time, and has been continually receiving- 
additions and repairs suited to the taste, 
fortune, or convenience of its successive pro 
prietors. In such a building we look in vain 
for the elegance* and proportion, for the just 
order and correspondence of parts, which we 
expect in a modern edifice." How beautiful 
an edifice is the Constitution of the United 
States, compared with the confused, baseless 
structures of European governments! What 
a glorious monument to the wisdom of its 
founders, and with what veneration and re- 



108 CIVIL DUTIES. 

spect should it be cherished in the hearts of 
the people ! 

The framing of a constitution is the most 
important act that a people can perform. It is 
important because it is the guide of those to 
whom the administration of the government 
is intrusted, and consequently affects favor- 
ably or unfavorably the interests of every 
citizen. The Constitution is the supreme law 
of the land; has been ratified by the people; 
receives from the people its binding force. It 
is not a compact of state governments, but a 
compact of the people of the several States. 
All the ratifications commence with, " We } 
the delegates of the people thereof" and termi- 
nate by making the ratifications in the name 
of their constituents, the people. It is with 
the people that sovereignty rests, whether 
state or national, and it is upon them that 
the Constitution acts directly and personally. 



DUTY OF OBEDIENCE TO LAW. 

Free government, which derives its power 
from the people, has a righteous claim to 



CIVIL DUTIES. 109 

obedience, because it brings to all real liberty, 
and gives a consciousness of freedom, such as 
is felt under no other system. It inspires 
self-respect, and teaches the respect due to 
others. It cultivates civil dignity, a depend- 
ence on law, and a habit of liberty, as well 
as a law-abiding acknowledgment of author- 
ity. Obedience is one of the elements of all 
society, and upon this rests the security of the 
state. Without it, political society can not 
hold together. Yet there exists a great dis- 
tinction between the obedience demanded on 
the sole ground of authority, such as is 
claimed by a Usurper and Tyrant, and that 
obedience, which the necessities of society 
require, and which every good citizen of a 
free country, deems it a privilege to render to 
laws legitimately prescribed by the lawful 
authority of that community, of which he 
forms a constituent member. To conform 
to institutions of national self-government 
has nothing galling on the ground of submis- 
sion. We do not obey a person, whom we 
know as an individual to be no more than 
ourselves, but we obey the institution of 



110 CIVIL DUTIES. 

which we know ourselves to b.e as much an 
integral part, as he who is clothed with 
authority. 

Obedience to law is the best security of our 
life, property, liberty, and happiness. The 
law-breaker is an enemy to society, and justly 
deserves the scorn and reprobation of all 
good men. Obedience to the letter of the 
law is not always the fulfillment of duty ; the 
spirit of the law may be evaded by trickery 
and cunning, and the vile may gain some* 
temporary advantage, but the conscientious 
discharge of duty will command respect, and 
be most conducive to happiness. To make, 
acknowledge, and obey the laws, is the happy 
lot of those born in this free country, and 
these are the highest prerogatives and privi- 
leges that man, politically, can aspire to. 

CIVIL DUTIES AND EIGHTS RECIPROCAL. . 

The duties of citizens necessarily grow 
out of and are concurrent with the rights we 
claim as members of a civilized community; 
without the proper discharge of duties, it 



CIVIL DUTIES. HI 

would be impossible for all to enjoy the 
rights which the constitution of society guar- 
antees to each of its members. These rights 
are secured by law — that is, either by the un- 
written law, which is founded upon usage, the 
decision of courts, and a common apprehen- 
sion of justice, sanctioned by the experience 
of ages, or by the written statutes which 
form the municipal code — and, in order that 
all may enjoy these rights, it is necessary 
that we live virtuously, injure no one, and 
render to every man his due; for only by 
this course can each be secured in 'those 
rights and privileges which belong to all. 
Therefore, we have h double motive for 
the performance of our duties : first, because 
the universal performance of these duties 
would be an additional security for the 
enjoyment of our own rights, and, secondly, 
the avoidance of those punishments and pen- 
alties which the law prescribes for neglect 
and violation of that which is enjoined. 
Hence it follows that to whatever nationality 
we belong, whether by nativity or by adop- 
tion, it is our duty to obey the law, which is 



112 CIVIL DUTIES. 

the only guaranty of our life, liberty, and 
property. We have a still further duty in- 
cumbent upon us— the interest of the whole 
society is binding upon every part of it — and 
it therefore becomes our duty as citizens to 
endeavor to avert danger whencesoever it 
may threaten, and to maintain the honor and 
independence of our country at whatever sac- 
rifice. It has been the custom of writers to 
point out the rights of citizens, but it is of 
much higher importance that the duties 
should be well understood and duly per- 
formed; for every violation of duty infringes 
upon the rights of some one, and tends to 
place the rights of all in jeopardy. To ful- 
fill the obligations of the law is essential to 
security, without which, there can be no 
libertv. 

Where men, of whatsoever condition — rul- 
ers or ruled — lay claim to rights, without ac- 
knowledging corresponding and parallel obli- 
gations, the very idea of right vanishes, and 
mutuality, the ground of all right, sinks from 
under it. But since a greater degree of civil 
liberty implies the enjoyment of more ex- 



CIVIL DUTIES. 113 

tended rights, the duties of every man in- 
creases with his liberty. Whatever liberty is 
claimed or exercised, without acknowledging 
the corresponding obligation, is but licentious- 
ness ; and it is a fundamental law of political 
ethics, that the less we are restrained from 
without the more should we bind ourselves 
from within — that is, by reason and con- 
science. « 

CIVIL LIBERTY. 

Civil Liberty is to be restrained only by 
such laws as are conducive in a greater de- 
gree to the public advantage. To do what 
we will is natural liberty ; to do what we 
will, consistent with the interests of others, is 
civil liberty ; and this is the only liberty to be 
desired in a state of civil society. The liberty 
of nature exists only in a state of solitude ; 
but the restraints and checks of conflicting 
interests, in the intercourse of our species, 
would be a greater restraint than the re- 
straint of equal laws. Without laws, the 
stronger would have the advantage, the 
weak would be oppressed. The laws of a 
8 



1U CIVIL DUTIES. 

free people impose no restraints which do not 
conduce in a greater degree to the public 
happiness. Therefore all laws which violate 
this principle should be abrogated as useless 
or noxious. A citizen of the freest govern- 
ment may be imprisoned for his crimes, but 
his confinement is the effect of a beneficial 
law. To restrain the vicious is to give se- 
curity to society, and is, therefore, pf advan- 
tage to the whole community, for without se- 
curity no one can be free. It is the duty of 
the legislature, by wise laws, to prescribe what 
amount of restraint is necessary to security, 
and to be guarded not to exceed the proper 
measure. The expression of the public sen- 
timent by a free press will furnish essential 
aid, when it represents a sound public opin- 
ion. By law we are protected in the peace- 
able enjoyment of life and property, in the 
preservation of our health and reputation, as 
well as person. Life is the gift of God, and 
no man has a right to take away his own 
life; nor may he destroy that of another. 
Property may be acquired in the modes pre- 
scribed by law, which are founded in justice, 



CIVIL DUTIES. 115 

and every man may use and occupy it in 
such manner as he thinks fit — provided he 
injures nobody else — and he may convey and 
dispose of it as he pleases, in conformity 
with certain regulations prescribed by law. 
The preservation of health is essential to the 
enjoyment of life, and therefore the legisla- 
ture has made salutary laws to prevent the 
introduction and spread of contagious dis- 
eases. A man's reputation and good name 
are secured from slander: a good character is 
the source of some of our highest enjo} T - 
ments, and the preservation of it from the 
blast of envy and the tongue of malice is 
one of the most valuable benefits we derive 
from society. The person is protected from 
all menaces and assaults, for all such acts are 
punishable. Thus, then, are many compensa- 
tions for the few natural rights surrendered, 
and man as a social being receives many en- 
joyments which are attainable only in a 
well-regulated social community. 



116 CIVIL DUTIES. 

RELATIVE DUTIES — MARRIAGE. 

Besides the duties to society, we have col- 
lateral duties in our domestic relations. By 
marriage, husband and wife 'become one per- 
son, in law. Marriage is a civil contract, 
which only those can enter into who have 
arrived at the age of consent. The ceremony 
of marriage is prescribed by statutes in the 
several States. Prior marriage, when the hus- 
band or wife is still living, disables persons 
from making this contract ; if they attempt it, 
the marriage will be void, and the party will 
be liable to severe punishment. The mar- 
riage between near relatives is unlawful, as 
leading to a confusion of rights and duties. 
The laws of the several States prescribe the 
degree of consanguinity which prohibit mar- 
riage. Idiots and lunatics are disqualified 
from entering into the marriage contract. 
Lawful marriage can be dissolved only by the 
death of one of the parties or divorce. The 
husband is bound to provide for his wife the 
necessaries suitable to her situation and his 
condition in life, and he is liable for any 



CIVIL DUTIES. 117 

debts she may contract for such necessaries ; 
but, for any thing beyond necessaries, he is 
not chargeable. The husband and wife can 
not be witnesses for or against each other, but, 
when the wife acts as her husband's agent, 
her declarations may be admitted to charge 
her husband. There are many other obliga- 
tions arising out of the marriage contract, but 
as these are provided for in state laws, and 
, are not always uniform in the several States, 
the statutes themselves will have to be con- 
sulted — the limits of this epitome allows us 
only room to point whence our obligations 
arise. 

DUTIES OF PAKENTS. 

Parents are the natural guardians of their 
children, and in this, as in every case where 
natural laws are conducive to the interests of 
society, civil laws are framed in accordance 
with them. The duties arising out of this rela- 
tion consist in maintaining and educating them 
during infancy. Infancy, in law, includes 
the minority of the child, which extends to 



118 CIVIL DUTIES. 

the age of twenty-one years. The legal obli- 
gation of a father to maintain his child ceases 
as soon as the child is of age. A father is 
not bound by the contract of his son, even for 
articles suitable and necessary, unless an 
actual authority be proved, or the circum- 
stances be sufficient to imply one ; or unless 
a clear omission of duty on the part of the 
father renders assistance to the child neces- 
sary. A father has a right to the services of 
his children, and he may sue any other person 
for the value of their labor or services ren- 
dered to such person. A father is also en- 
titled to the custody of the persons of his 
children, and, when improperly detained, may 
obtain such custody by writ of habeas corpus. 
Parents have a right to exercise all necessary 
discipline for the discharge of their duty, but 
courts of justice may, when the morals^ safety, 
or interests of the children require it, with- 
draw infants from the custody of their parents 
and place them elsewhere ; for the morals and 
education of children are necessarily matters 
of great concern to the welfare of society. The 
wayward' child, who has never ^ been taught 



CIVIL DUTIES, 119 

restraint, when he arrives at manhood is apt 
to disregard the restraints of civil society ; 
and habits once formed of disregarding law 
often lead to crime, and those who, otherwise, 
might be useful members of a community r 
become malignant pests — endanger the secu- 
rity of civil life, which is essential to the value 
of every blessing it contains. The relation 
of guardian and ward is nearly the same as 
that of parent and child. A father may dis- 
pose of the custody of his child during his 
minority, or, for a less time, may apprentice 
him to another person; or may, by will, ap- 
point some person as guardian, who, if he 
accepts, becomes the guardian, and the in- 
fant is called the ward. A guardian who has 
charge of a minor's property, as well as of 
his person, is required to keep safely such 
property, and may be required to give secu- 
ritv to deliver the same to his ward when he 
arrives at full age. Guardians are appointed 
in several ways, according to the circumstances 
of the case ; the duties are prescribed by 
statute. 



120 CIVIL DUTIES. 



DUTIES OF CHILDREN, 



The first duty of children is obedience, and 
the parent is by law clothed with authority 
to exercise such discipline as is necessary to 
enforce it — provided it is not cruel and unnec- 
essarily severe. But that child must be very 
perverse who will not, when it has arrived at 
the age of reason, yield obedience to affec- 
tionate parents, to whom he owes so much; 
but much of the perverseness of children is 
owing to want of discipline, and much of the 
anxieties of parents is occasioned by their own 
early neglect. Children may inherit property 
from their parents, but a parent may, by will, 
disinherit ungrateful children ; therefore chil- 
dren have many motives for obedience, as 
affection, gratitude, and self-interest. It is 
also the duty of children, when able, to sup- 
port and assist parents when old and impo- 
tent and they can not maintain themselves. 
Minors can not lawfully make contracts, and 
can not be compelled to pay debts, unless, 
after they become of age, they promise to 
pay. The benevolence of the law is obvious, 



CIVIL DUTIES. 121 

being intended to protect young persons, be- 
fore they have gained experience, from being- 
imposed up>on ; but, when no imposition has 
been practiced, the moral obligation remains, 
and the sense of having violated a moral 
obligation will be a sad reflection in after- 
life. An act of turpitude committed at 
the commencement of a career may lay a 
stain upon the character which may prove 
an irreparable damage to the reputation, 
creating distrust, and presenting an almost 
insurmountable impediment to honorable dis- 
tinction. 



DUTY TO FULFILL CONTRACTS. 

The duty to fulfill contracts can not be too 
strongly impressed upon the mind, for on this 
depends that mutual confidence so necessary 
to commercial and social intercourse. In the 
multifarious transactions in trade, particularly 
between persons remotely situated, it would 
be impossible to conduct operations of great 
magnitude, and only those who have estab- 
lished a reputation for integrity can hope to 



122 CIVIL D UTIES. 

share the advantage which these afford. A 
character for integrity often supplies the 
place of capital, and cooperation founded on 
well-assured confidence is productive of the 
most successful and satisfactory results. In 
entering into a contract, the moral obligation 
of every one is to conceal no fault where the 
other party has not the means of knowing ; 
for if there be an intentional concealment 
or suppression of a material fact, the contract 
is void, for inasmuch as all contracts are 
based on good faith, they are viciated by 
fraud. Our sense of justice, combined with 
that of integrity, will suggest our moral 
duty, and our very selfishness will, when 
aided by reflection, teach us that " Honesty 
is the best policy." 

PRINCIPAL AND AGENT. 

Agency is founded upon a contract, ex- 
pressed or implied, by which one party 
intrusts to the other the management of some 
business, and by which the other assumes to 
do the business and to render an account. 



CIVIL DUTIES. 123 

The acts of the agent will bind the principal 
so long as he keeps within the scope of his 
authority ; but an agent, constituted as such 
for a particular purpose, and under a limited 
power, can not bind his principal — if he ex- 
ceed that power. The agent, to excuse him- 
self from liability, must disclose his principal 
at the time of making his contract. The 
essential obligation of every trust is the exer- 
cise of integrity, which has been fully explained 
in the first section on moral duties ; without 
this, it matters not what the form of govern- 
ment- — it matters not what laws are made as 
rules of society — it is upon integrity that the 
whole fabric of civil society is raised. 
Whoever violates this moral principle is an 
enemy to himself, to all those with whom he 
may have business or social relation — an 
enemy to civil society— and deserves the rep- 
robation of mankind. 



DUTY OF BELIEVING THE POOE. 

When we view a world filled with plente- 
ousness sufficient for the sustenance of all 



124 CIVIL DUTIES. 

God's creatures, the justice, that such a dis- 
tribution should be made as will prevent 
actual want, will become evident; for al- 
though the constitution of civil society re- 
quires men to give up a part of their natural 
rights, it never could be contemplated that 
any one with ordinary prudence and industry 
should be deprived of the m6ans of living. 
Yet, however well organized society may be, 
there will always be some who, by unforeseen 
circumstances beyond their control, will need 
the help of their fellow-men, and this circum- 
stance will show how all the exigencies of our 
nature are provided for. The feeling of com- 
passion is placed within us, which urges us to 
make good the deficiencies arising from the 
imperfection of human laws. No fixed laws 
for the regulation of property can be so con- 
trived as to provide for the relief of every 
case of distress and want which may hap- 
pen, and, therefore, voluntary bounty is a 
duty incumbent upon those who become ac- 
quainted with the exigencies of the particular 
situation and whom Providence has blessed 
with the means to afford assistance. That 



CIVIL DUTIES. 125 

man who acquires wealth, but thinks only of 
himself, and, suppressing his feelings of coin- 
passion and benevolence, is indifferent to the 
distress of others, whose name is never found 
enrolled among the contributors to benevolent 
institutions of the country, will deprive him- 
self of many of those gratifying reflections 
which ever accompany and follow the exer- 
cise of generosity, and will leave a name of 
little honor. 

SOME GEXEKAL KEMAEKS. 

Under all former governments as hitherto 
known, a citizen who observed a proper 
obedience to law, discharged with exemplary 
fidelity the duties incumbent on domestic re- 
lations, faithfully fulfilled all his contracts and 
discharged his trusts with integrity, exercised 
prudence in his intercourse with men, and 
practiced benevolence according to his means, 
had fulfilled the duties of citizen as far as 
could be reasonably expected of him. But 
under a free government, where the citizen 
becomes a sovereign, instead of a subject, his 



126 CIVIL DUTIES. 

increased privileges bring with them new 
duties which — I know not whether to call 
them civil or political — no matter about the 
name — but that there are duties of a high 
character not included in those enumerated, 
it is quite clear, and it is necessary that they 
should find a place among the duties of 
citizens. 

POLITICAL DUTIES. 

Among the duties arising out of our polit- 
ical status many have been omitted by polit- 
ical writers. The very novelty of our form of 
government may be a reason, that these ques- 
tions have not yet received that philosophical 
consideration which their importance demand. 
A government founded upon the will of the 
people is an extraordinary phenomenon; in 
fact, the history of the world gives us no 
parallel; yet the wisdom of the founders of 
the Government of the United States have so 
wisely framed the Constitution as to give 
checks and safeguards to liberty and order, 
to subdue the selfishness and ambition which 
belong to each individual citizen, to harmo- 



CIVIL DUTIES. 127 

nize the many conflicting interests, and make 
their very antagonism conducive to order and 
promote the common good. They have raised 
up an edifice which has withstood for nearly 
a century the shocks of the political antagon- 
ism of the world, as well as the discordant 
elements within its own border— an edifice 
which seems to gather strength with time, 
and dignity from the enormous progress 
which it has fostered. Who shall despair of 
its durability, if the spread of knowledge, 
virtue, and patriotism, keep pace with its 
material progress ? But what the wise hare 
built up, it is easy for folly to pull down ! 
The muliplicity of offices create a class who 
shun labor, and when the emoluments of 
office exceed the rewards of ordinary indus-. 
trial pursuits, corruption to obtain them 
ensues ; and as the leaven leavens the mass, 
so corruption corrupts the whole body politic. 
This is the great danger of popular govern- 
ment. The only salvation from so great a 
calamity as the ruin of the government, is 
the virtuous education of the citizens, and a 
faithful discharge of the political duties. 



128 CIVIL DUTIES. 

DUTY OF ACQUIRING POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE. 

However it may be deemed expedient in 
monarchical governments to suppress polit- 
ical discussion and to discourage the acquire- 
ment of general political knowledge, it is 
widely different with the citizens of a re- 
public. To them is intrusted the important 
duty of electing the executive, the legislative, 
and judicial officers. On their judgment de- 
pends whether capable or incapable persona 
shall be elected to carry on the government, 
and therefore a sound public opinion is of the 
highest importance. Indeed, it is astonishing 
how extraordinarily great is the influence of 
public opinion even in monarchies where the 
monarch is thought to be absolute. Las 
Cases says that Napoleon, speaking of public 
opinion, said: "Public opinion is an invisible, 
mysterious power which nothing can resist; 
nothing is more powerful, more vague, or 
more changeable ; yet, capricious as it is, it is 
nevertheless, more frequently than one is apt 
to think, true, just, and reasonable." 

It has often been said of the sound second 



CIVIL D UTIES. 129 

thought of the people, that it is a safe basis 
for political action, and those statesmen who 
have been most distinguished for success, 
have been remarkable for the peculiar char- 
acteristic of prudently waiting the expression 
of public opinion, before taking action in 
measures which seem to create great concern 
among the people ; and it is a great trait of 
a distinguished statesman to be able to see 
one layer of public opinion through another. 
Public opinion may be said to be the sov- 
ereign power of society in all free govern- 
ments. 

It is in the formation of this public opinion 
that political ethics come into play. They 
give moral vigor to political existence, and, by 
teaching that duties are the necessary con- 
comitants of rights, some may be impressed 
with the sacredness of their political rela- 
tions, and, while their hearts are inspired 
with a genuine love of freedom, their lives 
may be a practical and conscientious effort to 
maintain it. Political apathy is dangerous to 
every free people, for "perpetual watchful- 
ness is the price of liberty. " 



130 CIVIL DUTIES, 

DUTY OF A CITIZEN TO KNOW THE HISTORY 
OF HIS COUNTRY. 

There is an absolute duty of every citizen 
to make himself acquainted with the history 
of his country, and familiarize himself with 
the different questions that have occupied 
the public mind and determined its policy. 
Institutions do not spring up in a day, and 
the essence of government does not always 
appear at the first glance ; but from the his- 
tory of a country we learn its institutions, 
how they have arisen, how they have oper- 
ated, and what is their tendency. Whether 
they work for good or evil, we can not tell, 
without knowing the causes from which they 
spring, and the mode in which they have oper- 
ated. Firm patriotism is impossible, without 
an acquaintance with our institutions, to en- 
able us to judge what is good in it, or to dis- 
cover what requires amendment. It is im- 
portant for the citizen to know the history 
of every great struggle which has divided 
public opinion — to know who took an active 
part, who distinguished themselves and de- 



CIVIL DUTIES. 131 

serve to be honored. Without being informed 
of the important events that have occurred, 
we neglect the true fruits of civilization, and 
disregard one of the most solemn duties of 
man as a social being. And not only do we 
require to be informed of what has passed, 
but it is our duty to pay attention to the 
present, to notice the occurrences of daily life. 
The noblest and worst things may happen, 
but we should know the reality of whatever 
occurs. If we do not store up events gradu- 
ally as they happen, and endeavor to keep 
up with facts in the political world, we shall 
be ill qualified to fulfill the duties of citizens. 
Events often take a different coloring after 
they have transpired, and the truth is 
rarely known. It is only by being well 
informed of past and present that the citizen 
knows his obligations and rights ; and it is 
only by a knowledge of these that he is able 
to discharge his duties. 

DUTY OF VOTING. 

The vote of the people is the only means 
of ascertaining the general will of the people. 



132 CIVIL DUTIES. 

Whenever a number of men must come to a 
final conclusion, voting must be resorted to, 
if there is not unanimity among them. By 
a national vote, public opinion passes into 
public will. The more civil liberty becomes 
diffused, the more important becomes the 
trust confided to citizens, and the more im- 
perative the faithful discharge of the duty of 
voting. To vote is a public duty. Indolence 
and political apathy are blamable, and indi- 
cate a want of public spirit, and an indiffer- 
ence to the public welfare. The best security 
against faction and intrigue, and many calami- 
tous disorders, is for every one who is entitled 
to vote to exercise his privilege at primary 
elections. Those whose voting is least desir- 
able are the surest to be at the polls ; but as 
the best interests of the country depend on 
a sound public opinion, the worthiest citizens 
should see to it that this is expressed by the 
results of the ballot box. It is a moral, as 
well as civil duty, that ought to be obligatory 
on every citizen. There is no great principle 
that has not its inconvenience, but we are not, 
on that account, absolved from conscientiously 



CIVIL DUTIES. 133 

acting our part, It is our business to honestly 
join in the great duties of the day, to fulfill 
our part as conscientious citizens; and, to do 
this, we must go to the poll. The election 
to office of competent, worthy, and fit per- 
sons, is highly requisite, for to these we in- 
trust the management of our affairs. Yet 
it is, unfortunately, but too frequently the 
case that citizens are swayed by totally differ- 
ent considerations. 

The appointment of incapable officers, on 
account of considerations wholly foreign to 
the office, be it family interest, party 
reward, or clannishness, is ever detrimen- 
tal to both state and people. It lowers 
the standard of capacity and activity, sub- 
verts the standard of morality in the public 
service, and corrupts the morals of the com- 
munity ^t large. All popular representation 
rests essentially upon election ; every thing 
which interferes with election, either by 
demoralization of the voters, or falsifying the 
returns by whatever means, is a grave offense 
against public liberty. In a republic, where 
the whole government rests on representa- 



134 CIVIL DUTIES. 

tion, tlie sovereign power being in the people, 
we can not but consider every such offense as 
a crime against the majesty of the people. 
As it is treason in monarchies to falsify acts 
of the prince, so, in a republic, it is treason to 
falsify votes, or to falsify returns — it is a hos- 
tile act against the fundamental principle of 
the body politic. The duty of voting for 
officers to fill the vacant situations in the 
Government is a sacred trust, and should not 
be exercised merely to serve a friend, but to 
elect fit and faithful officers. Whoever votes 
for corrupt or incompetent magistrates, legis- 
lators, or senators, votes away his own rights, 
his own liberty, his own security, as well as 
the rights, liberty, and security of his fellow- 
citizens. 

The many conspiracies to obtain control 
of elections, and thereby obtain personal ad- 
vantage, is one of the evils which threaten 
the stability of a free government ; votes are 
bartered, citizens are blindly led to believe 
that particular interests of party have a 
higher claim than the general interests of 
the country. 



CIVIL DUTIES. 135 

Practically, the mode of conducting pri- 
mary meetings seems to have a very de- 
structive tendency; the corrupt manner in 
which tickets are prepared is a usurpation 
of the choice of the people, and thousands 
vote tickets without knowing the person or 
character of those for whom they vote; but 
it is hoped that time and further experience 
will suggest a remedy for an evil so flagrant 
and pernicious. The privilege of having a 
voLe in the election of officers and function- 
aries of the Government is one of great re- 
sponsibility ; for it is on the proper exercise 
of this privilege that stability of the Govern- 
ment depends ; and it should be an earnest 
desire of every citizen to faithfully discharge 
this duty. 

THE DUTY OF ENACTING GOOD LAWS. 

Good laws are the best legacy which one 
generation can leave to another : and in all 
free governments the voice of the people 
originate the laws ; the legislatures merely 
give expression and form to them. The ne- 



136 CIVIL DUTIES. 

cessity of good school laws must be evident to 
every one. Without general morality — that 
is, good customs — there can be no sound com- 
,monwealth; nor can there be general, without 
private, morality. Virtuous dispositions, and 
morality in all its manifestations, are of es- 
sential importance to the well-being of the 
State ; and at the same time, they are a natu 
ral complement of all laws, supplying what- 
ever of deficiency may arise from defect of 
language or the imperfection of human en- 
actments. That community in which injus- 
tice and bad faith is habitual can not possibly 
support civil liberty; for while justice is the 
support of the State, injustice will inevitably 
lead to its ruin. Justice demands that we 
should not only see and judge matters from 
our point of view, but also from that of 
others — perhaps of our adversaries — or even 
our enemies ; hence, as far as practicable, jus- 
tice should be at the bottom of all laws ; it is 
the foundation of character, the basis of 
power, the aegis of liberty, the sole support 
of self-respect, and the great secret in the art 



CIVIL DUTIES. 137 

of ruling, as well for republics as any other 
form of government. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF 
PKOGKESSIVE GROWTH. 

It is not to be supposed, that the formation 
of the Constitution of the United States was 
the result of a single effort ; like all human 
achievements that are of any value, it was 
the work of repeated trials. 

As early as 1643, the territories compris- 
ing a part of what is now the United States 
formed associations for the purpose of com- 
mon protection and general welfare. A con- 
federacy was formed, called the " United 
Colonies of New England/' comprised of 
Massachusetts,. Plymouth, Connecticut, and 
New Haven. This was a league offensive 
and defensive, which they declared should be 
perpetual, and it was expressly declared to be 
a league. The chief points of this confeder- 
ation were: 1st. That each colony should 
have peculiar jurisdiction and government within 
its own limits. 2d. That the quotas of men 



138 CIVIL DUTIES. 

and money were to be furnished in proportion 
to the population, for which purpose a census 
was to be taken from time to time of such 
as were able to bear arms. 3d. That to 
manage such matters as concerned the whole 
confederation, a congress of two commission- 
ers from each colony should meet annually, 
with power to weigh and determine affairs of 
war and peace, leagues, aids, charges, and 
whatever else were proper concomitants of a 
confederation offensive and defensive ; and 
that, to determine any question, three-fourths 
of these commissioners must agree, or the 
matter to be referred to the general courts. 
4th. That these commissioners may choose a 
president, but that such president has no 
power over the business or the proceedings. 
5th. That neither of the colonies should en- 
gage in any war without consent of the gen- 
eral commissioners. 6th. That if any of the 
confederates should break any of these arti- 
cles, or otherwise injure any of the other con- 
federates, then such breach should be consid- 
ered and ordered by the commissioners of 
the other colonies. This confederacy sub- 



CIVIL DUTIES. 139 

sisted for forty years, under a regular form 
of government, in which the principle of del- 
egated congress was a prominent feature. 

In 1754 a Congress of commissioners, 
representing New Hampshire, Massachu- 
setts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, 
Pennsylvania and Maryland, was held at 
Albany, New York. The convention unani- 
mously resolved that a union of the colonies 
was absolutely necessary for their preserva- 
tion. They proposed a general plan of 
federal government, which, however, was not 
adopted. The Crown refused assent. But 
these proceedings serve to show the progress 
the colonists were making in their ideas of 
government. This did not purport to be a 
league or confederation, but a plan for one 
general government. Its principal provisions 
were : 1st. That the general government 
should be administered by a President- 
general appointed by the Crown, and a 
grand council chosen by the representatives 
of the people in their general assemblies. 
2d. That the council should be chosen every 
three years, and shall meet once in each 



140 CIVIL DUTIES. 

year. 3d. That the assent of the President 
be necessary to all acts of the Council, and 
that it is his duty to see them executed. 4th. 
That the President and Council may hold 
treaties, make peace, and declare war, with 
the several Indian tribes. 5th. That for 
these purposes they have power to levy and 
collect such duties, imposts, and taxes, as to 
them shall seem just. This was a much 
nearer approach to an organized government 
than the confederacy of 1643. It provided 
for a strong executive, but made no provision 
for a general judiciary. 

In 1765 a Congress was delegated from 
nine States, assembled at New York, and 
adjusted a bill of rights on the subject of 
taxation. 

In 1774 an Association of twelve States was 
formed, and delegates authorized to meet and 
consult for the common welfare. The breach 
with the British Government was now im- 
minent ; powers of a general nature were exe- 
cuted, without question or hinderance, by a 
Congress of deputies from the several States. 
Patriotism and a common danger absorbed 



CIVIL DUTIES. 141 

all other considerations, and made ordinary 
ties unnecessary. 

In 1775 the first Congress — of thirteen 
States — assembled at Philadelphia, and, in 
July, 1776, issued the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

In 1777, Congress agreed upon the cele- 
brated Articles of Confederation, under which 
the United States successfully terminated the 
Revolution. This was the first formation of 
a general government of all the States, and 
continued until 1788. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE AETICLES OF CONFEDERA- 
TION. 

1st. That the stvle of the Confederacy shall 
be the " United States of America." 

2d. That each State should retain its sov- 
ereignty, independence, and such rights as 
were not delegated to the general Congress. 

3d. That the object of the league was the 
general welfare and the common defense 
against foreign aggression. 

4th. That the citizens of one State should 



U2 CIVIL DUTIES. 

have the privileges of citizens in another, and 
that full faith and credit shall be given to 
the records, acts, and judicial proceedings 
in another State. 

5th. That, for the management of the gen- 
eral interests, delegates shall be annually ap- 
pointed to meet in Congress, each State 
having not less than two, nor more than 
seven ; and that, in determining questions in 
Congress, each State shall have one vote. 

6th. That no State, without the consent of 
Congress, enter into any treaty of alliance 
with any foreign power or nation, or with 
any other State ; nor lay any imposts or 
duties interfering with any stipulations con- 
tained in any treaty made by Congress ; nor 
keep any vessels of war or armed forces in 
time of peace, except such as Congress may 
deem necessary; nor engage in any war 
without the consent of Congress, unless the 
State be actually invaded, or the danger 
imminent ; nor grant letters of marque, 
unless such State be infested with pirates. 

7th. All charges for the general welfare 
shall be paid out of a common treasury, 






CIVIL DUTIES. 143 

which shall be levied in proportion to the 
value of land within each State. 

8th. The "United States in Congress as- 
sembled" shall have the exclusive right of 
making peace and war, entering into treaties 
and alliances ; granting letters of marque, and 
establishing courts and rules for the trial of 
piracies and felonies, and determining ques- 
tions in relation to captures ; and that the 
Congress have the power to determine all 
questions and differences between two or 
more States, concerning any cause whatever ; 
which authority shall be exercised by institu- 
ting a court in manner and form as provided, 
where judgment shall be final and decisive ; 
and that they have power to fix the standard 
of weights and measures and coin, establish 
post-offices, and commission officers ; that they 
shall have power to appoint a committee of 
the States, and such other civil officers as 
may be necessary to manage the general 
affairs of the United States, under their direc- 
tion; to elect their President; to fix the sums 
of money to be raised; to borrow money and 
emit bills of credit; to agree on the number 



U4 CIVIL DUTIES. 

of forces to be raised, which are to be dis- 
tributed among the States in proportion to 
the white inhabitants ; that the United States 
shall not exercise these powers unless nine 
States assent to the same ; nor shall any ques- 
tion, except that of adjournment, be deter- 
mined, unless by the votes of a majority of 
the States. 

9th. It is further provided, that the com- 
mittee of the States, or any nine of them, 
shall be authorized to execute, in the recess 
of Congress, such of the powers of Congress 
as the United States, or any nine of them, 
shall think proper to vest them with. 

10th. All debts contracted under the au- 
thority of Congress shall be deemed and con- 
sidered as a charge against the United 
States, for which the public faith is pledged. 

11th. That every State shall abide the de- 
terminations of Congress upon the questions 
submitted to it, and the Union shall be per- 
petual. 

These articles had inherent defects and 
obvious and palpable deficiencies as a govern- 
ment. There was no executive, though, in 



CIVIL D UTIES. 145 

form ; nearly all its powers were granted to 
Congress and the u Committee of the States." 
No general judiciary was provided, and, to 
raise men and money, it was necessary to act 
through the medium of many States — the Ar- 
ticles of Confederation did not act upon indi- 
viduals. These deficiencies rendered these 
articles wholly insufficient for a general gov- 
ernment, and a change became necessary. 

During the Revolution, the pressure of 
instant and common dangers kept the States 
in close union, and incited each to make 
all possible efforts in the common defense. 
When that was over, however, mutual jeal- 
ousies and separate interests weakened the 
common bonds, and soon proved the utter in- 
sufficiency of a mere confederacy for the pur- 
pose of national government. General Wash- 
ington, in June, 1773, addressed a letter to 
the governors of the several States, ia which 
he says: "There are four things which I 
humbly conceive are essential to the well- 
being — I may even say the existence — of the 
United States as an independent power: 
1st. An indissoluble union of the States un- 
10 



146 CIVIL DUTIES. 

cler one federal head. 2d. A sacred regard 
to public justice. 3d. The adoption of a 
proper peace establishment. 4th. The prev- 
alence of that pacific and friendly disposition 
among the people of the United States, 
which shall induce them to forget their local 
politics and prejudices." He remarked, under 
the first head: "It is only in our united 
character that we are known as an empire, 
that our independence is acknowledged, that 
our power can be regarded, or our credit be 
supported, among foreign nations. The trea- 
ties of European powers with the United 
States of America will have no validity, on a 
dissolution of the Union. We may find, by 
our own unhappy experience, that there is a 
natural and necessary progression from the 
extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyr- 
anny, and that arbitary power is most easily 
established on the ruins of liberty abased to 
licentiousness." 

In 1786 the Legislature of Virginia rec- 
ommended a meeting of commissioners from 
the several States to review the powers of 
government. The delegates of five States 



CIVIL DUTIES. 147 

met at Annapolis, but adjourned, proposing 
a general convention at Philadelphia. In 
1787 the convention of delegates from twelve 
States was convened, and, after much delib- 
eration, formed the present Constitution of 
the United States. By resolution of the con- 
vention, it was directed to be carried into ef- 
fect when ratified by the conventions of 
nine States chosen by " the people thereof." 
That ratification, after much opposition, scru- 
tinizing discussion, and the adoption of sev- 
eral amendments, it finally received, and all 
the States finally assenting to its provisions 
became members of the Union. In 1789 it 
went into practical operation, and from that 
period to this — more than eighty years — has 
withstood unharmed the various violent influ- 
ences of local feuds, opposing interests, do- 
mestic insurrection, and foreign violence. 

Thus it will be seen that the finished 
work, although of progressive growth, pre-, 
sents the most perfect work that ever was 
accomplished by human intellect. Numer- 
ous amendments have been made, in the 
manner prescribed by the instrument itself, 



148 CIVIL DUTIES. 

but, in all of these, there is one predominant 
fact manifested: that they all tend to an in- 
creased and further-extended liberty. 

The Constitution, after its formation, was 
addressed to the President of Congress, ac- 
companied by a letter from General Washing- 
ton, President of the Convention, from which 
the following are extracts: "It is obviously im- 
practicable, in the federal government of these 
States, to secure all the rights of independent 
sovereignty to each and yet provide for the 
interest and safety of all. Individuals entering 
into society must give up a share of liberty to 
preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacri- 
fice must depend as well on situation and cir- 
cumstance as on the object to be obtained. It 
is at all times difficult to draw with precision 
the line between those rights which must be sur- 
rendered and those which may be reserved; and, 
on the present occasion, this difficidty was in- 
creased by a difference among the several States 
as to their situation, extent, habits, and partic- 
ular interests. In all our deliberations on this 
subject we kept steadily in view that which ap- 
peared to us the greatest interest of every true 



CIVIL DUTIES. 149 

American — the consolidation of the Union, in 
which is involved our prosperity, felicity, and 
safety — perhaps our national existence. This 
important consideration, deeply impressed upon 
our minds, led each State in the Convention to be 
less rigid on points of inferior magnitude than 
might have been otherwise expected; and thus 
the Constitution which we now present is the 
result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual 
deference and concession which the peculiarity 
of our political situation rendered indispensable." 
The Constitution being framed and trans- 
mitted to Congress, it now remained to put 
it in action; to do this, it was first neces- 
sary that it should be ratified by the people. 
The mode of doing this had been provided by 
the convention. They had resolved that, as 
soon as the convention of nine States should 
have ratified the Constitution, Congress should 
fix the day on which electors should be ap- 
pointed, and a day on which the electors 
should assemble to vote for President, and 
the time and place of commencing proceed- 
ings under the Constitution ; after the Presi- 
dent was elected, he and Congress should, 



150 CIVIL DUTIES. 

without delay, proceed to execute the Consti- 
tution. Accordingly, after the ratification of 
a sufficient number of States, in July, 1788, it 
was ordered that the several ratifications of 
the Constitution of the United States be re- 
ferred to a committee, to examine and report 
an act for putting said Constitution into 
operation. The committee was appointed, 
and the following resolution was passed : 
"Resolved, That the first Wednesday in Janu- 
ary next be the day for appointing the 
electors in the several States which, before 
said day, shall have ratified the Constitution ; 
that the first day of February next be the 
day for the electors to assemble in their 
respective States and vote for President ; and 
that the first Wednesday in March next be 
the time, and the present seat of Congress be 
the place, for commencing proceedings under 
the Constitution." In pursuance of this reso- 
lution, on Wednesday, the 4th day of March, 
1789, the Constitution went into practical opera- 
tion. 

And now the great work was achieved 
which had so anxiously occupied the minds 



CIVIL DUTIES. 151 

of the active and progressive men of those 
days from 1643 to 1789 — and after the lapse of 
almost another century, now spreads its pro- 
tecting wings over more than forty millions 
of free citizens, who feel not the weight of its 
influence except in the blessings it bestows. 

It is evident that the consolidation of the 
States into a great nationality was the great 
end, to which all other objects were of " in- 
ferior magnitude," and to effect this it was 
necessary that it should be the act of the 
people, and not of the States, as the pre- 
amble sets forth ; " We, the people of the 
United States, in order to form a more in- 
timate union," establish this Constitution for 
the United States of America. Yet the free 
action of the States is not impaired ; their 
political importance is enlarged, rather than 
decreased, and a whole continent is thrown 
open to the enterprise of the citizens of all 
the States, without let or hinderance ; no cus- 
tom-houses to fetter her trade between State 
and State ; no standing armies to menace the 
borders of the several States ; no passports ; 
conscriptions hardly known ; free to go, and 



152 CIVIL DUTIES. 

free to return, at will, with more security than 
is offered by any other form of government. 
How different in the Old World, where every 
petty principality is guarded by soldiers, cus- 
tom-house officers on every frontier, conscrip- 
tions dragging from their homes young men, 
the hope and support of aged parents, to be 
engaged in frequent and fruitless wars ; to 
see proud hearts, because of humble birth, 
endure the contumely and pride of caste — 
committed to drudgery, with small reward 
and little hope of bettering their condition; 
where the social car runs in the same ruts 
for centuries, and labor hath no honor; where 
pride of birth claims all reverence, arrogating 
all merit, while ignoring every obligation ! 
Proud, indeed, ought the citizen to be where 
equality of birth is admitted, and where it 
requires only to be equal in virtue, equal in 
the discharge of duty, equal in the cultivation 
of his talents, to be eligible to the highest 
position. 

As intimidated in General Washington's 
letter to the President of Congress, at the 
time of transmitting the Constitution as it 



[ 



CIVIL DUTIES. 153 



came from the hands of the convention, it 
was impracticable to secure all the rights of 
independent sovereignty to each of the States 
and yet provide for the interest and safety 
of all. There still remained some questions 
which had been temporarily yielded. But 
at the first session of Congress, held in 
New York, 1789, the Senate and House of 
Representatives, two-thirds concurring, rec- 
ommended to the States the adoption of 
twelve amendments to the Constitution. Ten 
of these amendments were adopted by three- 
fourths of the legislatures of the States, and 
became a part of the constitution on the 
15th of December, 1791. The Eleventh 
Amendment was proposed at the first session 
of the Third Congress, was adopted by the 
constitutional number of States, and declared, 
in a message from the President of the 
United States, to have become a law, January 
8th, 1798. The Twelfth Amendment, which 
was proposed at the first session of the Eighth 
Congress, was adopted by the constitutional 
number of the States, in 1804, according to 



154 CIVIL DUTIES 

public notice of the Secretary of State, dated, 
September 25th, 1804. 

When the Constitution was adopted, the 
United States consisted of thirteen States, 
some of which deferred the ratification, but 
subsequently gave in their adhesion, but ac- 
companied the ratification with recommenda- 
tions of amendment, some of which were 
adopted, as we have already shown. But the 
elasticity of the Government develops a ca- 
pacity to extend the number of the States and 
Territories to indefinite limits, and is capa- 
ble of holding within its benign embrace an 
indefinite number of States and unnumbered 
millions of the human race. The number of 
the States at this time amounts to thirty- 
seven, and eleven Territories, each State and 
each Territory having its own government 
and its own laws, in all that concerns the in- 
ternal policy, and each has its proportional 
representation in the National Government. 

JNTew States may be admitted agreeably to 
the constitutional provision in Sections 3 and 
4 of Article IV of that instrument ; and to 
each State is guaranteed a republican form 
of government, protection against invasion 



CIVIL DUTIES. . 155 

ncl, on application of the legislature, or of the 
Executive (when the legislature can not be 
onvened), against domestic violence. 

It is the peculiar province and privilege of 
the State courts' to construe their own statutes, 
and it is no part of the Supreme Court of 
the United States to review their decisions or 
assume jurisdiction over them. The Supreme 
Court of the United States can only restrict 
the unconstitutional legislation of the States; 
for as the Constitution is -the supreme law, 
every violation of it by the States may 
be ajudicated upon by the Supreme Court. 
Every State is sovereign in all that affects its 
own interest, and has a joint and common 
interest and influence with all the other 
States in what concerns the national welfare. 
When the Constitution of the United States 
was completed, perhaps without design, a 
form of government had been devised, which 
is capable of including the whole human 
family — imposing no oppressive restraints, 
and giving liberty to all — each and every 
part living under its own laws, pursuing its 
own interest in its own way, without other 
restriction than is prescribed by justice. 



156 CONSTITUTION OF 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



We, the People of the United States, in order to form 
a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic 
tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the 
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to 
ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this 
Constitution for the United States of America. 

AKTICLE I. 

Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall 
be vested in a congress of the United States, which shall 
consist of a senate and house of representatives. 

Sec. 2. The house of representatives shall be composec 
of members chosen every second year by the people of the 
several states, and the electors in each state shall have 
the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numer- 
ous branch of the state legislature. 

No person shall be a representative who shall not have 
attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven 
years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, 
when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he 
shall be chosen. 



THE UNITED STATES. 157 

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned 
imong the several states which may be included within 
his union, according to their respective numbers, which 
hall be determined by adding to the whole number of 
ree persons, including those bound to service for a term 
of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of 
all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made 
w T ithin three years after the first meeting of the congress 
of the United States, and within every subsequent term 
of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. 
The number of representatives shall not exceed one for 
every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least 
one representative; and until such enumeration shall be 
made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to 
choose three; Massachusetts, eight; Rhode Island and 
Providence Plantations, one ; Connecticut, five ; New 
York, six ; New Jersey, four ; Pennsylvania, eight ; Dela- 
ware, one ; Maryland, six ; Virginia, ten ; North Carolina, 
five ; South Carolina, five ; and Georgia, three. 

When vacancies happen in the representation from any 
state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of 
election to fill such vacancies. 

The house of representatives shall choose their speaker 
and other officers, and shall have the sole power of im- 
peachment. 

Sec. 3. The senate of the United States shall be com- 
posed of two senators from each state, chosen by the 
legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall 
have one vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in conse- 



158 CONSTITUTION OF 

quence of the first election, they shall be divided, as 
equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the 
senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expira- 
tion of the second year; of the second class, at the expi- 
ration of the fourth year ; and of the third class, at the 
expiration of the sixth year : so that one-third may be 
chosen every second year ; and if vacancies happen, by 
resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the legisla- 
ture of any state, the executive thereof may make tem- 
porary appointments until the next meeting of the legis- 
lature, which shall then fill such vacancies. 

No person shall be a senator who shall not have 
attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years 
a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when 
elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall 
be chosen. 

The vice president of the United States shall be presi- 
dent of the senate, but shall have no vote unless they be 
equally divided. 

The senate shall choose their other officers, and also a 
president pro tempore, in the absence of the vice president, 
or when he shall exercise the office of president of the 
United States. 

The senate shall have the sole power to try all impeach- 
ments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on 
oath or affirmation. When the president of the United 
States is tried, the chief justice shall preside; and no 
person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two- 
thirds of the members present. 

Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend 



THE UNITED STATES. 159 

further than to removal from office, and disqualification 
to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit 
under the United States ; but the party convicted shall 
nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, 
judgment, and punishment, according to law. 

Sec. 4. The times, places, and maimer of holding 
elections for senators and representatives, shall be pre- 
scribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the 
congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such 
regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. 

The congress shall assemble at least once in every year, 
and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in Decem- 
ber, unless they shall by law appoint a different day. 

Sec. 5. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, 
returns, and qualifications of its own members ; and a 
majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business ; 
but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and 
may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent 
members, in such manner and under such penalties as 
each house may provide. 

Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, 
punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the 
concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. 

Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and 
from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts 
as may in their judgment require secrecy ; and the yeas 
and nays of the members' of either house, on any question, 
shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered 
on the journal. 

Neither house, during the session of congress, shall, 



160 CONSTITUTION OF 

without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than 
three days, nor to any other place than that in which the 
two houses shall be sitting. 

Sec. 6. The senators and representatives shall receive 
a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by 
law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. 
They shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach 
of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attend- 
ance at the session of their respective houses, and in 
going to and returning from the same ; and for any speech 
or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in 
any other place. 

No senator or representative shall, during the time for 
which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office 
under the authority of the United States which shall 
have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have 
been increased, during such time; and no person holding 
any office under the United States shall be a member of 
either house during his continuance in office. 

Sec. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in 
the house of representatives ; but the senate may propose 
or concur with amendments, as on other bills. 

Every bill which shall have passed the house of repre- 
sentatives and the senate, shall, before it become a law, 
be presented to the president of the United States. If he 
approves, he shall sign it ; but if not, he shall return it, 
with his objections, to that house in which it shall have 
originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their 
journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such re- 
consideration, two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass 



THE UNITED STATES. 161 

the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to 
the other house, by which it shall likewise be recon- 
sidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that house, it 
shall become a law. But, in all such cases, the votes of 
both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and 
the names of the persons voting for and against the bill 
shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. 
If any bill shall not be returned by the president within 
ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been pre- 
sented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as 
if he had signed it, unless the congress, by their adjourn- 
ment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. 
Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concur- 
rence of the senate and house of representatives may be 
necessary, except on a question of adjournment, shall be 
presented to the president of the United States ; and, 
before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by 
him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by 
two-thirds of the senate and house of representatives, ac- 
cording to the rules and limitations prescribed in the 
case of a bill. 

Sec. 8. The congress shall have power — 
To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises ; 
to pay the debts and provide for the common defense 
and general welfare of the United States ; but all duties, 
imposts, and excises, shall be uniform throughout the 
United States : 

To borrow money on the credit of the United States : 
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and anion 
the several states, and with the Indian tribes : 

11 



162 CONSTITUTION OF 

To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and 
uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout 
the United States : 

To coin money, regulate the value thereof/ and of for- 
eign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures : 

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the 
securities and current coin of the United States : 

To establish post offices and post roads : 

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by 
securing for limited times, to authors and inventors, the 
exclusive right to their respective writings and discover- 
ies : 

To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court : 

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed 
on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations: 

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, 
and make rules concerning captures on land and water : 

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of 
money to that use shall be for a longer term than two 
years : 
- To provide and maintain a navy : 

To make rules for the government and regulation of 
the land and naval forces: 

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the 
laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel in- 
vasions : 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining 
the militia, and for governing such part of them as may 
be employed in the service of the United States, reserv- 
ing to the states, respectively, the appointment of the 



THE UNITED STATES. 163 

officers, and the authority of training the militia accord- 
ing to the discipline prescribed by congress : 

To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatso- 
ever, over such district, not exceeding ten miles square, 
as may, by cession of particular states, and the accept- 
ance of congress, become the seat of government of the 
United States, and to exercise like authority over all 
places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the 
state in which the same shall be, for the erection of 
forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful 
buildings ; and, 

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper 
for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all 
other powers vested by this constitution in the govern- 
ment of the United States, or in any department or offi- 
cer thereof. 

Sec. 9. The migration or importation of such persons 
as any of the states now existing shall think proper to 
admit, shall not be prohibited by the congress prior to 
the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a 
tax or duty may be imposed on such importation not 
exceeding ten dollars for each person. 

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be 
suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or inva- 
sion, the public safety may require it. 

No bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, shall be 
passed. 

No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless 
in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore 
directed to be taken. 



164 CONSTITUTION OF 

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from 
any state. No preference shall be given by any regula- 
tion of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state 
over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or 
from oue state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties 
in another. 

No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in 
consequence of appropriations made by law ; and a reg- 
ular statement and account of the receipts and expendi- 
tures of all public money shall be published from time 
to time. 

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United 
States, and no person holding any office of profit or trust 
under them, shall, without the consent of the congress, 
accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any 
kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state. 

Sec. 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alli- 
ance, or confederation ; grant letters of marque and re- 
prisal; coin money; emit bills of credit ; make any thing 
but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; 
pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law im- 
pairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of 
nobility. 

No state shall, without the consent of the congress, 
lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except 
what may be absolutely necessary for executing its in- 
spection laws ; and the net produce of all duties and im- 
posts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be 
for the use of the treasury of the United States, and all 
such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of 



THE UNITED STATES. . 165 

the congress. No state shall, without the consent of 
congress, lay any duty of tunnage, keep troops or ships 
of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or 
compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or 
engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such immi- 
nent danger as will not admit of delay. 

ARTICLE II. 

Sec 1. The executive power shall be vested in a pres- 
ident of the United States of America. He shall hold 
his office during the term of four years, and, together 
with the vice president, chosen for the same term, be 
elected as follows: 

Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legis- 
lature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to 
the whole number of senators and representatives to 
which the state may be entitled in the congress; but no 
senator or representative, or person holding an office of 
trust or profit under the United States, shall be ap- 
pointed an elector. 

[The electors shall meet in their respective states, and 
vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least 
shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with them- 
selves. And "they shall make a list of all the persons 
voted for, and of the number of votes for each ; which 
list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to 
the seat of the government of the United States, directed 
to the president of the senate. The president of the sen- 
ate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of rep- 
resentatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall 



166 CONSTITUTION OF 

then be counted. The person having the greatest num- 
ber of votes shall be the president, if such number be a 
majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; anci 
if there be more than one who have such majority, and 
have an equal number of votes, then the house of repre- 
sentatives shall immediately choose, by ballot, one of 
them for president; and if no person have a majority, 
then, from the five highest on the list, the said bouse 
shall, in like manner, choose the president. But, in 
choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, 
the representation from each state having one vote. A 
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or 
members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of 
all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every 
case, after the choice of the president, the person having 
the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the 
vice president. But if there should remain two or more 
who have equal votes, the senate shall choose from them, 
by ballot, the vice president.] 

The congress may determine the time of choosing the 
electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, 
which day shall be the same throughout the United 
States. 

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen 
of the United States at the time of the adoption of this 
constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president : 
neither shall any person be eligible to that office who 
shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, 
and been fourteen years a resident within the United 
States. 



THE UNITED STATES. 167 

In case of the removal of the president from office, or 
of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the 
powers and duties of the said office, the same shall de- 
volve on tke vice president, and the congress may, by 
law, provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, 
or inability, both of the president and vice president, de- 
claring what officer shall then act as president, and such 
officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be re- 
moved, or a president shall be elected. 

The president shall, at stated times, receive for his ser- 
vices, a compensation, which shall neither be increased 
nor diminished during the period for which he shall have 
been elected, and he shall not receive within that, period 
any other emolument from the United States, or any of 
them. 

Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall 
take the following oath or affirmation. 

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully 
execute the office of president of the United States, and 
will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and de- 
fend the constitution of the United States." 

Sec. 2. The president shall be commander-in-chief of 
the army and navy of the United States, and of the mi- 
litia of the several states when called into the actual 
service of the United States. He may require the opin- 
ion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the ex- 
ecutive departments, upon any subject relating to the 
duties of their respective offices; and he shall have 
p wer to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against 
t. e United States, except in cases of impeachment. 



168 CONSTITUTION OF 

He shall have power, by and with the advice and con- 
sent of the senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds 
of the senators present concur; and he shall nominate, 
and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, 
shall appoint embassadors, other public ministers, and 
consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other offi- 
cers of the United States, whose appointments are not 
herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be estab- 
lished by law. But the congress may, by law, vest the 
appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper, 
in the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the 
heads of departments. 

The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies 
that may happen during the recess of the senate, by 
granting commissions which shall expire at the end of 
their next session. 

Sec. 3. He shall, from time to time, give to the con- 
gress information of the state of the union, and recom- 
mend to their consideration such measures as he shall 
judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary 
occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and, in 
case of disagreement between them with respect to the 
time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time 
as he shall think proper ; he shall receive embassadors 
and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the 
laws be faithfully executed ; and shall commission all the 
officers of the United States. 

Sec. 4. The president, vice president, and all civil 
officers of the United States, shall be removed from office 



THE UNITED STATES. 169 

on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, 
or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III. 

Sec. 1. The judicial power of the United States shall 
be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts 
as the congress may, from time to time, ordain and 
establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior 
courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior ; and 
shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compen- 
sation which shall not be diminished during their contin- 
uance in office. 

Sec. 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in 
law and equity, arising under this constitution, the laws 
of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under their authority ; to all cases affecting embas- 
sadors, other public ministers and consuls ; to all cases 
of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; to controversies 
to which the United States shall be a party ; to contro- 
versies between two or more states; between a state and 
citizens of another state ; between citizens of different 
states; between citizens of the same state claiming lands 
under grants of different states ; and between a state, or 
the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or sub- 
jects. 

In all cases affecting embassadors, other public min- 
isters and consuls, and those in which a state shall be a 
party, the supreme court shall have original jurisdiction. 
In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme court 
shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, 



170 CONSTITUTION OF 

with such exceptions, and under such regulations, as the 
congress shall make. 

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, 
shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be held in the state 
where the said crimes shall have been committed; but 
when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at 
such place or places as the congress may, by law, have 
directed. 

Sec. 3. Treason against the United States shall consist 
only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their 
enemies, giving them aid and comfort. ~No person shall 
be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two 
witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open 
court. 

The congress shall have power to declare the punish- 
ment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work 
o rruption of blood or forfeiture, except during the life 
of the person attainted. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Sec. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each 
state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings 
of every other state. And the congress may, by general 
laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, 
and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 

Sec. 2. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to 
all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several 
states. 

A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or 
, tlier crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in 



THE UNITED STATES. 171 

another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority 
of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be 
removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. 

No person held to service or labor in one state under 
the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in conse- 
quence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged 
from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on 
claim of the party to w T hom such service or labor may be 
due. 

Sec. 3. ISTew states may be admitted by the congress 
into this union ; but no new r states shall be formed or 
erected within the jurisdiction of any other state ; nor any 
state be formed by the junction of tw r o or more states, or 
parts of states, without the consent of the legislature of 
the states concerned, as well as of the congress. 

The congress shall have power to dispose of, and make 
all needful rules and regulations respecting, the territory 
or other property belonging to the United States ; and 
nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to 
prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any par- 
ticular state. 

Sec 4. The United States shall guarantee to every 
state in this union a republican form of government, and 
shall protect each of them against invasion, and on appli- 
cation of the legislature, or of the executive (when the 
legislature can not be convened) against domestic vio- 
lence. 

ARTICLE V. 

The congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall 
deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this con- 



172 CONSTITUTION OF 

stitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two- 
thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for 
proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be 
valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of this constitu- 
tion, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of 
the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths 
thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may 
be proposed by the congress ; provided, that no amend- 
ment which may be made prior to the year one thousand 
eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the 
first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first 
article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be 
deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate. 

ARTICLE VI. 

All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, 
before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid 
against the United States under this constitution as under 
the Confederation. 

This constitution, and the laws of the United States 
which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all trea- 
ties made, or which shall be made, under the authority 
of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the 
land ; and the j udges in every state shall be bound 
thereby, any thing in the constitution or laws of any 
state to the contrary notwithstanding. 

The senators and representatives before mentioned, and 
the members of the several state legislatures, and all 
executive and judicial officers, both of the United States 
and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affir- 



THE UNITED STATES. 173 

mation to support this constitution ; but no religious test 
shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or 
public trust under the United States. 

ARTICLE VII. 

The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall 
be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution 
between the states so ratifying the same. 



AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 



ARTICLE I. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establish- 
ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; 
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or 
the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to peti- 
tion the government for a redress of grievances. 

ARTICLE II. 

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security 
of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear 
arms shall not be infringed. 



174 CONSTITUTION OF 

ARTICLE III. 

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any 
house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of 
war but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, 
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches 
and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall 
issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affir- 
mation, and particularly describing the place to be 
searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V. 

ISTo person shall be held to answer for a capital or other- 
wise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indict- 
ment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land 
or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service, 
in time of war or public danger ; nor shall any person be 
subject, for the same offense, to be twice put in jeopardy 
of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any criminal 
case to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of 
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor 
shall private property be taken for public use without 
just compensation. 

ARTICLE VI. 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy 
the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial 



THE UNITED STATES. 17 



o 



jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have 
been committed, which district shall have been previously 
ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and 
cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the wit- 
nesses against him ; to have compulsory process for 
obtaining witnesses in his favor ; and to have the assist- 
ance of counsel for his defense. 

ARTICLE VII. 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy 
shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall 
be preserved ; and no fact tried by a jury shall be other- 
wise re-examined in any court of the United States, than 
according; to the rules at the common law. 



ARTICLE VIIL 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines 
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 



ARTICLE IX. 

The enumeration in the constitution of certain rights, 
shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained 
by the people. 

ARTICLE X. 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the 
constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are 
reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. 



176 CONSTITUTION OF 

ARTICLE XI. 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be 
construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, com- 
menced or prosecuted against one of the United States by 
citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any 
foreign state. 

ARTICLE XII. 

The electors shall meet in their respective states, and 
vote by ballot for president and vice president, one of 
whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same 
state with themselves ; they shall name in their ballots 
the person voted for as president, and in distinet ballots 
the person voted for as vice president ; and they shall 
make distinct lists of all persons voted for as president, 
and of all persons voted for as vice president, and of the 
number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and 
certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government 
of the United States, directed to the president of the 
senate ; the president of the senate shall, in the presence 
of the senate and house of representatives, open all the 
certificates, and the votes shall then be counted ; the per- 
son having the greatest number of votes for president 
shall be the president, if such number be a majority of 
the whole number of electors appointed ; and if no person 
have such majority, then from the persons having the 
highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those 
voted "for as president, the house of representatives shall 
choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But in 
choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by "states, 



THE UNITED STATES. 177 

the representation from each state having one vote ; a 
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or 
members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of 
all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the 
house of representatives shall not choose a president, 
whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, 
before the fourth day of March next following, then the 
vice president shall act as president, as in the case of the 
death or other constitutional disability of the president. 

The person having the greatest number of votes as vice 
president shall be the vice president, if such number be 
a majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; 
and if no person have a majority, then from the two 
highest numbers on the list, the senate shall choose the 
vice president ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of 
two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a ma- 
jority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. 

But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office 
of president, shall be eligible to that of vice president of 
the United States. 

ARTICLE XIII. 

Sec. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ex- 
cept as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall 
have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United 
States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 

Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this arti- 
cle by appropriate legislation, 



178 CONSTITUTION OF 



ARTICLE XIV. 



Sec* 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United 
States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens 
of the United States, and of the state wherein they re- 
side. No state shall make or enforce any law which 
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of 
the United States ; nor shall any state deprive any per- 
son of life, liberty, or property, without due process of 
law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the 
equal protection of the laws. 

Sec. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among 
the several states according to their respective numbers, 
counting the whole number of persons in each state, ex- 
cluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote 
at any election for choice of electors for president and 
vice president of the United States, representatives in 
congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or 
the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any 
of the male inhabitants of such state being twenty-one 
years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any 
way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or 
other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be 
reduced in the proportion which the number of such male 
citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens 
twenty-one years of age in such state. 

Sec. 3. No person shall be a senator, or representa- 
tive in congress, or elector of president and vice presi- 
dent, or hold any office, civil or military, under the 
United States, or under any state, who, having previ- 



THE UNITED STATES. 179 

ously taken an oath as a member of congress, or as an 
officer of the United States, or as a member of any state 
legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any 
state, to support the Constitution of the United States, 
shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against 
the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; 
but congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, 
remove such disability. 

Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United 
States authorized by law, including debts incurred for 
payment of pensions and bounties for services in sup- 
pressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. 
But neither the United States nor any state shall assume 
or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insur- 
rection cr rebellion against the United States, or any 
claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all 
such debts, obligations, and claims, shall be held illegal 
and void. 

Sec. 5. The congress shall have power to enforce, by 
appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV. 

Sec. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to 
vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United 
States, or by any state, on account of race, color, or pre- 
vious condition of servitude. 

Sec. 2. The congress shall have power to enforce this 
article by appropriate legislation. 



180 CIVIL DUTIES. 



OF STATE GOVEKNMENTS. 

Most of the colonies, especially in New 
England, had charters, previous to the Revo- 
lution, which conceded to them all the rights 
of self-government, but after the war, when 
they had achieved their independence from 
British rule, most of them formed new consti- 
tutions, more in accordance with the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, founded on the 
representative principle — deriving all their 
powers from the people, and acknowledging 
the natural and inherent rights of man as 
set forth in the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. The governments thus constituted 
have no foundation but the consent of the 
governed, and no sustaining principle but 
the virtue and capacity of the people to 
govern themselves. The difference between 
the National and State Governments is, that 
one regards national and foreign affairs, while 
the other has jurisdiction only over internal 
affairs, and the jurisdiction is limited to the 
boundary of the State. 

The State governments, like the National 



CIVIL DUTIES. 181 

Government, have three great departmental 
divisions, viz. : the Executive, the Legisla- 
tive, and the Judicial. Its territory is divided 
into counties, townships, and minor divisions, 
as incorporated cities, villages, and school 
districts, each having its necessary organiza- 
tion. 

The Governor is the executive officer of the 
State, and his duties are analogous to those 
of President of the United States. He has 
the command of the militia and military 
array of the State, to see that the laws are 
faithfully executed, receives reports from the 
heads of departments, communicates informa- 
tion to the legislature, exercises the pardon- 
ing power, and has, in many of the States, a 
veto on the legislation of the State. 

The Legislature is composed of two houses 
called the Legislature and Senate : These make 
all laws, and each are governed by the same 
parliamentary rules, and the process by which 
laws are passed is the same. 

The Judiciary comprises a supreme court, 
circuit courts, courts of probate, and justices 
of the peace. The Legislature may also vest 



182 CIVIL DUTIES. 

such jurisdiction as shall be deemed neces- 
sary in municipal courts, and shall have 
power to establish inferior courts in the sev- 
eral counties with limited civil and criminal 
jurisdiction. The judges in most of the 
States are elected by the people; but judges 
may be removed from office by address of 
both houses of the legislature, if two-thirds 
of all the members elected to each house 
concur therein — the judge to have copies of 
the charges against him, and shall have an 
opportunity of being heard in his defense. 

Each of the several departments have their 
subordinate officers, most of whom are elected 
by the people, and the ramifications of Gov- 
ernment spread themselves to the remotest 
and smallest district — all self-acting and self- 
sustaining. Each of the States are repre- 
sented in the Congress of the United States. 
The representatives to Congress are elected 
by the people, and the senators of the United 
States are chosen by the legislatures of the 
respective States. 

Thus is a government established capable 
of unlimited extension, yet in the remotest 



CIVIL DUTIES. 183 

parts the citizen may find courts for the 
redress of wrongs and for the protection of 
his rights — the arm of the law reaches every- 
where. But as all power emanates from the 
people, on their virtue depends the welfare of 
the state; so, by their vices, may the fair fabric 
of the Republic be engulfed in utter ruin. 
Subjoined is an example of a State govern- 
ment. 



184 CONSTITUTION OF 



CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 



PREAMBLE. 



We, the people of Wisconsin, grateful to Almighty God for our 
freedom, in order to secure its blessings, form a more perfect 
government, insure domestic tranquillity, and promote the gen- 
eral welfare, do establish this constitution. 

ARTICLE L 

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. 

Section L All men are born equally free and independent, 
and have certain inherent rights : among these are life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights, govern- 
ments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from 
the consent of the governed. 

Sec. 2. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude 
in this state, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, whereof 
the party shall have been duly convicted. 

Sec. 3. Every person may freely speak, write, and publish his 
sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of 
that right, and no laws shall be passed to restrain or abridge the 
liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions or 
indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence; and if 
it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous 
be true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable 
ends, the party shall be acquitted ; and the jury shall have the 
right to determine the law and the fact. 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 185 



•Sec. 4. The right of the people peaceably to assemble to con- 
sult for the common good, and to petition the government or any 
department thereof, shall never be abridged. 

Sec 5. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate ; and 
shall extend to all cases at law, -without "regard to the amount in 
controversy ; but a jury trial may be waived by the parties in all 
cases, in the manner prescribed by law. 

Sec. 6. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor shall excess- 
ive fines be imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments in- 
flicted. 

Sec. 7. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy 
the right to be heard by himself and counsel; to demand the 
nature and cause of the accusation against him; to meet the 
witnesses face to face; to have compulsory process to compel the 
attendance of witnesses in his behalf; and in prosecutions by 
indictment or information, to a speedy public trial by an impar- 
tial jury of the county or district wherein the offense shall have 
been committed; which county or district shall have been pre- 
viously ascertained by law. 

Sec 8. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal 
offense, unless on the presentment or indictment of a grand 
jury, except in cases of impeachment, or in cases cognizable by 
justices of the peace, or arising in the army or navy, or in the 
militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger; 
and no person for the same offense shall be put twice in jeop- 
ardy of punishment, nor shall be compelled in any criminal 
case to be a witness against himself. All persons shall before 
conviction be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital 
offenses, when the proof is evident or the presumption great ; 
and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be sus- 
pended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the pub- 
lic safety may require. 

Sec 9. Every person is entitled to a certain remedy in the 
laws, for all injuries or wrongs which he may receive in his per- 
son, property, or character; he ought to obtain justice freely, 
and without being obliged to purchase it, completely and with- 
out denial, promptly and without delay, conformably to the 
laws. 

Sec 10. Treason against the state shall consist only in levy- 
ing war against the same, or in adhering to its enemies, giving 
them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason 
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, 
or on confession in open court. 

Sec 11. The right of the people to be secure in their persons 



186 CONSTITUTION OF 



houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and 
seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but 
upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and par- 
ticularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons 
or things to be seized. 

Sec. 12. No bill of attainder, ex-post-facto law, nor any law 
impairing the obligation of contracts, shall ever be passed ; and 
no conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of 
estate. 

Sec. 13. The property of no person shall be taken for public 
use without just compensation therefor. 

Sec 14. All lands within the state are declared to be allo- 
dial, and feudal tenures are prohibited. Leases and grants of 
agricultural land, for a longer term than fifteen years, in which 
rent or service of any kind shall be reserved, and all fines and 
like restraints upon alienation, reserved in any grant of land, 
hereafter made, are declared to be void. 

Sec. 15. No distinction shall ever be made by law between 
resident aliens and citizens, in reference to the possession, 
enjoyment, or descent of property. 

Sec. 16. No person shall be imprisoned for debt arising out 
of, or founded on a contract, expressed or implied. 

Sec. 17. The privilege of the debtor to enjoy the necessary 
comforts of life shall be recognized by wholesome laws, exempt- 
ing a reasonable amount of property from seizure or sale for the 
payment of any debt or liability hereafter contracted. 

Sec 18. The right of every man to worship Almighty God 
according to the dictates of his own conscience shall never be 
infringed, nor shall any man be compelled to attend, erect, or 
support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, 
against his consent. Nor shall any control of or interference 
with the rights of conscience be permitted, or any preference 
be given by law to any religious establishments, or mode of 
worship. Nor shall any money be drawn from the treasury for 
the benefit of religious societies, or religious or theological 
seminaries. 

Sec 19. No religious tests shall ever be required as a quali- 
fication for any office of public trust, under the state, and no 
person shall be rendered incompetent to give evidence in any 
court of law or equity, in consequence of his opinions on the 
subject of religion. 

Sec 20. The military shall be in strict subordination to the 
civil power. 

Sec 21. Writs of error shall never be prohibited by law. 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 187 



Sec. 22. The blessings of a free government can only be 
maintained by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temper- 
ance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fun- 
damental principles. 

ARTICLE II 

Sets forth the boundaries of the state. 

ARTICLE III. 

SUFFRAGE. 

Section 1. Every male person, of the age of twenty-one years 
or upward, belonging to either of the following classes, who 
shall have resided in the state for one year next preceding any 
election, shall be deemed a qualified elector at such election :— 

1. All citizens of the United States. 

2. White persons of foreign birth, who shall have declared 
their intention to become citizens, conformably to the laws of 
the United States on the subject of naturalization. 

3. Persons of Indian blood, who have once been declared by 
law of congress to be citizens of the United States, any subse- 
quent law of congress to the contrary notwithstanding. 

4. Civilized persons of Indian descent, not members of any 
tribe. Provided, That the legislature may, at any time, extend 
by law the right of suffrage to persons not herein enumerated ; 
but no such law shall be in force until the same shall have been 
submitted to a vote of the people at a general election, and 
approved by a majority of all the votes cast at such election. 

Sec. 2. No person under guardianship, non compos mentis, 
or insane, shall be qualified to vote at any election : nor shall 
any person convicted of treason or felony be qualified to vote at 
any election unless restored to civil rights. 

Sec 3. All votes shall be given by ballot, except for such 
township officers as may by law be directed or allowed to be 
otherwise chosen. 

Sec. 4. No person shall be deemed to have lost his residence 
in this state by reason of his absence on business of the United 
States, or of this state. 

Sec. 5. No soldier, seaman, or marine, in the army or navy 
of the United States, shall be deemed a resident of this state in 
consequence of being stationed within the same. 

Sec 6. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suf- 



188 CONSTITUTION OF 



frage all persons who have been or may be convicted of bribery 
or larceny, or of any infamous crime, and depriving every per- 
son who shall make, or become directly or indirectly interested 
in, any bet or wager depending upon the result of any election, 
from the right to vote at such election. 

ARTICLE IV. 

LEGISLATIVE. 

Section. 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a senate 
and assembly. 

Sec. 2. The number of -the members of the assembly shall 
never be less than fifty-four, nor more than one hundred. The 
senate shall consist of a number not more than one-third, nor 
less than one-fourth, of the number of the members of the 
assembly. 

Sec. 3. The legislature shall provide by law for an enumera- 
tion of the inhabitants of the state, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and fifty-five, and at the end of every ten years 
thereafter; and at their first session after such enumeration, 
and also after each enumeration made by the authority of the 
United States, the legislature shall apportion and district anew 
the members of the senate and assembly, according to the num- 
ber of inhabitants, excluding Indians not taxed, and soldiers and 
officers of the United States army and navy. 

Sec. 4. The members of the assembly shall be chosen annu- 
ally hy single districts, on the Tuesday succeeding the first 
Monday of November, by the qualified electors of the several 
districts; such districts to be bounded by county, precinct, town, 
or ward lines, to consist of contiguous territory, and be in as 
compact form as practicable. 

Sec 5. The senators shall be chosen by single districts of 
convenient contiguous territory, at the same time and in the 
same manner as members of the assembly are required to be 
chosen, and no assembly district shall be divided in the forma- 
tion of a senate district. The senate districts shall be num- 
bered in regular series, and the senators chosen by the odd 
numbered districts shall go out of office at the expiration of the 
first year, and the senators chosen by the even numbered dis- 
tricts shall go out of office at the expiration of the second year, 
and thereafter the senators shall be chosen for the term of two 
years. 

Sec. 6. No person shall be eligible to the legislature who 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 189 



shall not have resided one year within the state, and be a qual- 
ified elector in the district which he may be chosen to represent. 

Sec. 7. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, re- 
turns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of 
each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller 
number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the at- 
tendance of absent members, in such manner and under such 
penalties as each house may provide. 

Sec. 8. Each house may determine the rules of its own pro- 
ceedings, punish for contempt and disorderly behavior, and, 
with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, 
expel a member; but no member shall be expelled a second time 
for the same cause. 

Sec. 9. Each house shall choose its own officers, and the 
senate shall choose a temporary president, when the lieutenant- 
governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor. 

Sec. 10. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, 
and publish the same, except such parts as require secrecy. 
The doors of each house shall be kept open except wdien the 
public welfare shall require secrecy. Neither house shall, 
without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three 
days. 

Sec II. The legislature shall meet at the seat of government, 
at such time as shall be provided by law, once in each year, and 
not oftener, unless convened by the governor. 

Sec 12. No member of the legislature shall, during the term 
for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any civil 
office in the state which shall have been created, or the emolu- 
ments of which shall have been increased, during the term for 
which he was elected. 

b 1 EC 13. No person being a member of congress, or holding 
any military or civil office under the United States, shall be 
eligible to a seat in the legislature ; and if any person shall, 
after his election as a member of the legislature, be elected to 
congress, or be appointed to any office, civil or military, under 
the government of the United States, his acceptance thereof 
shall vacate his seat. 

Sec 14. The governor shall issue writs of election to fill such 
vacancies as may occur in either house of the legislature. 

Sec 15. Members of the legislature shall, in all cases except 
treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from 
arrest; nor shall they be subject to any civil process, during the 
session of the legislature, nor for fifteen days next before the 
commencement and after the termination of each session. 



190 CONSTITUTION OF 



Sec. 16. No member of the legislature shall be liable in any 
civil action or criminal prosecution whatever, for words spoken 
in debate. 

Sec. 17. The style of the laws of the state shall be, "The 
people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and as- 
sembly, do enact as follows;" and no law shall be enacted ex- 
cept by bill. 

Sec. 18. No private or local bill, which may be passed by 
the legislature, shall embrace more than one subject, and that 
shall be expressed in the title. 

Sec. 19. Any bill may originate in either house of the legis- 
lature ; and a bill passed by one house may be amended by the 
other. 

Sec. 20. The yeas and nays of the members of either house, 
on any question, shall, at the request of one-sixth of those pres- 
ent, be entered on the journal. 

Sec. 21. Each member of the legislature shall receive for his 
services, two dollars and fifty cents for each day's attendance 
during the session, and ten cents for every mile he shall travel 
in going to and returning from the place of the meeting of the 
legislature, on the most usual route. 

Sec. 22. The legislature may confer upon the boards of super- 
visors of the several counties of the state, such powers, of a local, 
legislative, and administrative character, as they shall from time 
to time prescribe. 

Sec. 23, The legislature shall establish but one system of town 
and county government, which shall be as nearly uniform as 
practicable. 

Sec. 24. The legislature shall never authorize any lottery, or 
grant any divorce. 

Sec. 25. The legislature shall provide by law that all station- 
ery required for the use of the state, and all printing authorized 
and required by them to be done for their use, or for the state, 
shall be let by contract to the lowest bidder; but the legislature 
may establish a maximum price. No member of the legislature, 
or other state officer, shall be interested, either directly or indi- 
rectly, in any such contract. 

Sec. 26. The legislature shall never grant any extra compen- 
sation to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor, after 
the services shall have been rendered or the contract entered 
into. Nor shall the compensation of any public officer be in- 
creased or diminished during his term of office. 

Sec 27. The legislature shall direct by law in what manner 
and in what court suits may be brought against the state. 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 191 



Sec 28. Members of the legislature, and all officers, executive 
and judicial, except such inferior officers as may be by law ex- 
empted, shall, before they enter upon the duties of their respect- 
ive offices take and subscribe an oath or affirmation to support 
the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the 
state of Wisconsin, and faithfully to discharge the duties of their 
respective offices to the best of their ability. 

Sec. 29. The legislature shall determine what persons shall 
constitute the militia of the state, and may provide for organiz- 
ing and disciplining the same, in such manner as shall be pre- 
scribed by law. 

Sec 30. In all elections to be made by the legislature, the 
members thereof shall vote viva voce, and their votes shall be 
entered on the journal. 

ARTICLE V. 

EXECUTIVE. 

Section. 1. The executive power shall be vested in a governor, 
who shall hold his office for two years. A lieutenant governor 
shall be elected at the same time, and for the same term. 

Sec 2. No person, except a citizen of the United States, and 
a qualified elector of the state, shall be eligible to the office of 
governor or lieutenant governor. 

Sec. 3. The governor and lieutenant governor shall be elected 
by the qualified electors of the state, at the times and places of 
choosing members of the legislature. The persons respectively 
having the highest number of votes for governor and lieutenant 
governor shall be elected. But in case two or more shall have 
an equal and the highest number of votes for governor or lieu- 
tenant governor, the two houses of the legislature, at its next 
annual session, shall forthwith, by joint ballot, choose one of the 
persons so having an equal and the highest number of votes for 
governor or lieutenant governor. The returns of election for 
governor and lieutenant governor shall be made in such manner 
as shall be provided by law. 

Sec 4. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the mili- 
tary and naval forces of the state. He shall have power to con- 
vene the legislature on extraordinary occasions; and in case of 
invasion, or danger from the prevalence of contagious disease at 
tli e seat of government, he may convene them at any other suit- 
able place within the state. He shall communicate to the legis- 
h lure, at every session, the condition of the state, and recoin- 
mend such matters to them for their consideration, as he m;iy 



192 CONSTITUTION OF 



deem expedient. He shall transact all necessary- business with 
the officers of the government, civil and military. He shall ex- 
pedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legisla- 
ture,' and shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. 

Sec. 5. The governor shall receive during his continuance in 
office, an annual compensation of one thousand two hundred and 
fifty dollars. 

►Sec. 6. The governor shall have power to grant reprieves, 
commutations, and pardons, after conviction, for all offenses, 
except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions 
and with such restrictions and limitations as he may think proper, 
subject to such regulations as may be provided by law relative 
to the manner of applying for pardons. Upon conviction for 
treason, he shall have the power to suspend the execution of the 
sentence until the case shall be reported to the legislature, at 
its next meeting, when the legislature shall either pardon, or 
commute the sentence, direct the execution of the sentence, or 
grant a further reprieve. He shall annually communicate to 
the legislature each case of reprieve, commutation, or pardon 
granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he 
was convicted, the sentence and its date, and the date of the 
commutation, pardon, or reprieve, with his reasons for granting 
the same. 

Sec. 7. Tn case of the impeachment of the governor, or his 
removal from office, death, inability from mental or physical 
disease, resignation, or absence from the state, the powers and 
duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenant governor, 
for the residue of the term, or until the governor absent or 
impeached, shall have returned, or the disability shall cease. 
But when the governor shall, with the consent of the legislature, 
be out of the state in time of war, at the head of the military 
force thereof, he shall continue commander-in-chief of the mili- 
tary force of the state. 

Sec. 8. The lieutenant governor shall be president of the 
senate, but shall have only a casting vote therein. If during a 
vacancy in the office of governor, the lieutenant governor shall 
be impeached, displaced, resign, die, or from mental or physical 
disease become incapable of performing the duties of his office, 
or be absent from the state, the secretary of state shall act as 
governor until the vacancy shall be filled, or the disability shall 
cease. 

Sec. 9. The lieutenant governor shall receive double the per 
diem allowance of members of the senate, for every dav's attend- 
ance as president of the senate, and the same mileage. as shall be 
allowed to members of the legislature. 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 193 



Sec. 10. Every bill which shall have passed the legislature 
shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the governor. If 
he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it. with 
his objections, to that house in which it shall have originated-, 
who shall enter the objections at large upon the journal, and 
proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration, two- 
thirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it 
shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house. 
by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by 
two-thirds of the members present, it shall become a law. But 
in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined 
by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for or 
against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house 
respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the governor 
within three days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been 
presented to him, the same shall be a law, unless the legislature 
shall, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case 
it shall not be a law. 

ARTICLE VI. 

ADMINISTRATIVE. 

Section 1. There shall be chosen by the qualified electors 
of the state, at the times and places of choosing the members of 
the legislature, a secretary of state, treasurer, and an attorney 
general, who shall severally hold their offices for the term of 
two years. 

Sec. 2. The secretary of state shall keep a fair record of the 
official acts of the legislature and executive department of the 
state, and shall, when required, lay the same and all matters 
relative thereto before either branch of the legislature. He shall 
be ex officio auditor, and shall perform such other duties as shall 
be assigned him by law. He shall receive as a compensation for 
his services, yearly, such sum as shall be provided by law, and 
shall keep his office at the seat of government. 

Sec 3. The powers, duties, and compensation of the treasurer 
and attorney general shall be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 4. Sheriffs, coroners, registers of deeds, and district 
attorneys shall be chosen by the electors of the respective 
counties, once in every two years, and as often as vacancies 
shall happen. Sheriffs shall hold no other office, and be ineli- 
gible for two years next succeeding the termination of their 
offices. They may be required by law to renew their security 
from time to time ; and in default of giving such new security, 

13 



194 CONSTITUTION OF 



their offices shall be deemed vacant. But the county shall never 
be made responsible for the acts of the sheriff. The governor 
may remove any officer in this section mentioned, giving to such 
officer a copy of the charges against him, and an opportunity of 
being heard in his defense. 

ARTICLE VII. 

JUDICIARY. 

Section 1. The court for the trial of impeachments shall be 
composed of the senate. The house of representatives shall 
have the power of impeaching all civil officers of this state, for 
corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors; but 
a majority of all the members elected shall concur in an im- 
peachment. On the trial of an impeachment against the gov- 
ernor, the lieutenant governor shall not act as a member of the 
court. No judicial officer shall exercise his office after he shall 
have been impeached, until his acquittal. Before the trial of 
an impeachment, the members of the court shall take an oath 
or affirmation truly and impartially to try the impeachment, 
according to evidence; and no person shall be convicted with- 
out the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. 
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than 
to removal from office, or removal from office and disqualification 
to hold any office of honor, profit, or trust, under the state; but 
the part} 7 impeached shall be liable to indictment, trial, and 
punishment according to law. 

Sec 2. The judicial power of this state, both as to matters 
ol law and equity, shall be vested in a supreme court, circuit 

arts, courts of probate, and in justices of the peace. The leg- 
islature may also vest such jurisdiction as shall be deemed neces- 
sary in municipal courts, and shall have power to establish 
inferior courts in the several counties, with limited civil and 
■iminal jurisdiction. Provided, That the jurisdiction which 
aay be vested in municipal courts shall not exceed, in their 
espective municipalities, that of circuit courts in their respec- 
tive circuits, as prescribed in this constitution; and that the 
islature shall provide as well for the election of judges of the 
nicipal courts as of the judges of inferior courts, by the quali- 

• i electors of the respective jurisdictions. The term of office 

the judges of the said municipal and inferior courts shall not 
longer than that of the judges of the circuit courts. 

Sec. 3. The supreme court, except in cases otherwise pro- 
dded in this constitution, shall have appellate jurisdiction only, 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 195 



which shall be co-extensive with the state; but in no case 
removed to the supreme court, shall a trial by jury be allowed. 
The supreme court shall have a general superintending control 
over all inferior courts ; it shall have power to issue writs of 
habeas corpus, mandamus, injunction, quo warranto, certiorari, 
and other original and remedial writs, and to hear and deter- 
mine the same. 

Sec. 4. For the term of five years, and thereafter until the 
legislature shall otherwise provide, the judges of the several 
circuit courts shall be judges of the supreme court, four of 
whom shall constitute a quorum, and the concurrence of a 
majority of the judges present shall be necessary to a decision. 
The legislature shall have power, if they should think it expe- 
dient and necessary, to provide by law for the organization of 
a separate supreme court, with the jurisdiction and powers pre- 
scribed in this constitution, to consist of one chief justice and 
two associate justices, to be elected by the qualified electors of 
the state, at such time and in such manner as the legislature 
may provide. The separate supreme court, when so organized, 
shall not be changed or discontinued by the legislature; the 
judges thereof shall be so classified that but one of them shall 
go out of office at the same time, and their term of office shall 
be the same as is provided for the judges of the circuit, court. 
And whenever the legislature may consider it necessary to 
establish a separate supreme court, they shall have power to 
reduce the number of circuit judges to four, and subdivide the 
judicial circuits, but no such subdivision or reduction shall take 
effect until after the expiration of the term of some one of the 
said judges, or until a vacancy occur by some other means. 

Sec. 5 divides the state into judicial circuits. 

Sec. 6. The legislature may increase the number of circuits, 
and change the limits. 

Sec. 7. For each circuit there shall be a judge chosen by the 
qualified electors therein, who shall hold his office as is pro- 
vided in this constitution, and until his successor shall be chosen 
and qualified; and after he shall have been elected, he shall 
reside in the circuit for which he was elected One of said 
judges shall be designated as chief justice, in such manner as 
the legislature shall provide. And the legislature shall, at its 
first session, provide by law, as well for the election of as for 
classifying the judges of the circuit court, to be elected under 
tin's constitution, in such manner that one of said judges shall g<1 
out of office in two years, one in three years, one in four years, 
one in five years, and one in six years, and thereafter the judge 
elected to fill the office shall hold the same for six years. 



196 CONSTITUTION OF 



Sec. 8. The circuit courts shall have original jurisdiction in 
all matters, civil and criminal, within this state, not excepted in 
this constitution, and not hereafter prohibited by law, and appel- 
late jurisdiction from all inferior courts and tribunals, and a 
supervisory control over the same. They shall also have the 
power to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, injunction, 
quo warranto, certiorari, and all other writs necessary to carry 
into effect their orders, judgments, and decrees, and give them a 
general control over inferior courts and jurisdictions. 
* Sec. 9. When a vacancy shall happen in the office of judge 
of the supreme or circuit courts, such vacancy shall be filled by 
an appointment of the governor, which shall continue until a 
successor is elected and qualified; and when elected, such suc- 
cessor shall hold his office the residue of the unexpired term. 
There shall be no election for a judge or judges at any general 
election for state or county officers, nor within thirty days either 
before or after such election. 

Sec. 10. Each of the judges of the supreme and circuit courts 
shall receive a salary, payable quarterly, of not less than one 
thousand five hundred dollars annually; they shall receive no 
fees of office, or other compensation than their salaries; they 
shall hold no office of public trust, except a judicial office, during 
the term for which they are respectively elected, and all votes 
for either of them, for any office except a judicial office, given by 
the legislature or the people, shall be void. No person shall be 
eligible to the office of judge, who shall not, at the time of his 
election be a citizen of the United States, and have attained the 
age of twenty-five years, and be a qualified elector within the 
jurisdiction for which he may be chosen. 

Sec. 11 The supreme court shall hold at least one term an- 
nually, at the seat of government of the state, at such time as 
shall be provided by law, and the legislature may provide for 
holding other terms, and at other places, when they may deem 
it necessary. A circuit court shall be held at least twice in 
each year, in each county of this state, organized for judicial 
purposes. The judges of the circuit court may hold courts for 
each other, and shall do so when required by law. 

Sec. 12. There shall be a clerk of the circuit court chosen in 
each county organized for judicial purposes, by the qualified 
electors thereof, who shall hold his office for two years, subject 
to removal, as shall be provided by law. In case of a vacancy, 
the judge of the circuit court shall have the power to appoint a 
clerk, until the vacancy shall be filled by an election. The 
clerk thus elected or appointed shall give such security as Hie 
legislature may require; and when elected, shall hold his office 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 107 



for a full term. The supreme court shall appoint its own clerk, 
and the clerk of a circuit court may be appointed clerk of the 
supreme court. 

Sec. 13. Any judge of the supreme or circuit court may be 
removed from office by address of both houses of the legisla- 
ture, if two-thirds of all the members elected to each house con- 
cur therein, but no removal shall be made by virtue of this sec- 
tion, unless the judge complained of shall have been served 
with a copy of the charges against him as the ground of ad- 
dress, and shall have had an opportunity of being heard in ^is 
defense. On the question of removal, the ayes and noes shall 
be entered on the journals. 

Sec. 14. There shall be chosen in each county, by the quali- 
fied electors thereof, a judge of probate, who shall hold his of- 
fice for two years, and until his successor shall be elected and 
qualified, and whose jurisdiction, powers, and duties shall be 
prescribed by law : provided, hoivever, that the legislature shall 
have power to abolish the office of judge of probate in any 
county, and to confer probate powers upon such inferior courts 
as may be established in said county. 

Sec. 15. The electors of the several towns, at their annual 
town meetings, and the electors of cities and villages, at their 
charter elections shall, in such manner as the legislature may 
direct, elect justices of the peace, whose term of office shall be 
for two years, and until their successors in office shall be 
elected and qualified. In case of an election to fill a vacancy 
occurring before the expiration of a full term, the justice 
elected shall hold for the residue of the unexpired term. Their 
number and classification shall be regulated by law. And the 
tenure of two years shall in nowise interfere with the classifi- 
cation in the first instance. The justices thus elected shall 
have such civil and criminal jurisdiction as shall be prescribed 
by law. 

Sec 16. The legislature shall pass laws for the regulation of 
tribunals of conciliation, defining their powers and duties. 
Such tribunals may be established in and for any township, and 
shall have power to render judgment, to be obligatory on the 
parties, when they shall voluntarily submit their matter in dif- 
ference to arbitration, and agree to abide the judgment, or as- 
sent thereto in writing. 

Sec 17. The style of all writs and process shall be, " The 
state of Wisconsin." All criminal prosecutions shall be carried on 
in the name and by the authority of the same ; and all indict- 
ments shall conclude against the peace and dignity of the state. 



198 CONSTITUTION OF 



Sec. 18. The legislature shall impose a tax on all civil suits 
commenced or prosecuted in the municipal, inferior, or circuit 
courts, which shall constitute .a fund to be applied toward the 
payment of the salary of judges. 

Sec 19. The testimony in causes in equity shall be taken in 
like manner as in cases at law; and the office of 'master in 
chancery is hereby prohibited. 

Sec. 20. Any suitor in any court of this state shall have the 
right to prosecute or defend his suit either in his own proper 
person or by an attorney or agent of his choice. 

Sec 21. The legislature shall provide by law for the. speedy 
publication of all statute laws, and of such judicial decisions 
made within the state, as may be deemed expedient. And no 
general law shall be in force until published. 

Sec 22. The legislature, at its first session after the adoption 
of this constitution, shall provide for the appointment of three 
commissioners, whose duty it shall be to inquire into, revise, 
and simplify the rules of practice, pleadings, forms, and pro- 
ceedings, and arrange a system adapted to the courts of record 
of this state, and report the same to the legislature, subject to 
their modification and adoption ; and such commission shall ter- 
minate upon the rendering of the report, unless otherwise pro- 
vided by law. 

Sec 23. The legislature may provide for the appointment of 
one or more persons in each organized county, and may vest in 
such persons such judicial powers as shall be prescribed by 
law: provided, that said power shall not exceed that of a judge 
of the circuit court at chambers. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

FINANCE. 

Section 1. The rule of taxation shall be uniform, and taxes 
shall be levied upon such property as the legislature shall pre- 
scribe. 

Sec 2. No money shall be paid out of the treasury except in 
pursuance of an appropriation by law. 

Sec 3. The credit of the state shall never be given or loaned 
in aid of any individual, association, or corporation. 

Sec 4. The state shall never contract any public debt, except 
in the cases and manner herein provided. 

Sec 5. The legislature shall provide for an annual tax suffi- 
cient to defray the estimated expenses of the state for each 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 199 



year; and whenever the expenses of any year shall exceed the 
income, the legislature shall provide for levying a tax for the 
ensuing year, sufficient, with other sources of income, to pay 
the deficiency, as well as the estimated expenses of such ensu- 
ing year. 

Sec. 6. For the purpose of defraying extraordinary expendi- 
tures, the state may contract public debts; but such debts shal 
never in the aggregate exceed one hundred thousand dollar . 
Every such debt shall be authorized by law, for some purpo- 
or purposes to be distinctly specified therein ; and the vote 
a majority of all the members elected to each house, to be 
taken by yeas and nays, shall be necessary to the passage o 
such law; and every such law shall provide for levying an i i 
nual tax sufficient to pay the annual interest of such debt, 
the principal within five years from the passage of such la 
and shall specially appropriate the proceeds of such taxes t. 
the payment of such principal and interest; and such appr 
ation shall not be repealed, nor the taxes be postponed or 
minished, until the principal and interest of such debt shall 
have been wholly paid. 

Sec. 7. The legislature may also borrow money to repel inva 
sion, suppress insurrection, or defend the state in time of war 
but the money thus raised shall be applied exclusively to ih>- 
object for which the loan was authorized, or to the repayinen 
of the debt thereby created. 

Sec. 8. On the passage in either house of the legislature, 
any law which imposes, continues, or renews a tax, or en 
a debt or charge, or makes, continues, or renews an appropr^ l- 
tion of public or trust money, or releases, discharges, or com- 
mutes a claim or demand of the state, the question shall be 
taken by yeas and nays, which shall be duly entered on the 
journal: and three-fifths of all the members elected to such 
house, shall in all cases be required to constitute a quorum 
therein. 

Sec. 9. 1S0 scrip, certificate, or other evidence of state debt, 
wha-soever. shall be issued, except for such debts as are author- 
ized by the sixth and seventh sections of this article. 

Sec. 10. The state shall never contract any debt for works 
of internal improvement, or be a party in carrying on such 
works; but whenever grants of land or other property shall 
have been made, to the state, especially dedicated by the grant 
to particular works of internal improvement, the state may 
carry on such particular works, and shall devote thereto the 



200 CONSTITUTION OF 



avails of such grants, and may pledge or appropriate the reve- 
nues derived from such works in aid of their completion. 

AKTICLE IX. 

EMINENT DOMAIN AND PROPERTY OF THE STATE. 

Section 1. The state shall have concurrent jurisdiction on 
all rivers and lakes bordering on this state, so far as such riv- 
ers or lakes shall form a common boundary to the state, and 
any other state or territory now or hereafter to be formed and 
bounded by the same. And the river Mississippi, and the nav- 
igable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, 
and the carrying places between the same, shall be common 
highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the 
state as to the citizens of the United States, without any tax, 
impost, or duty therefor. 

Sec. 2. The title to all lands, and other property, which have 
accrued to the territory of Wisconsin, by grant, gift, purchase, 
forfeiture, escheat, or otherwise, shall vest in the state of Wis- 
consin. 

Sec 3. The people of the state, in their right of sovereignty, 
are declared to possess the ultimate property in and to all 
lands within the jurisdiction of the state ; and all lands, the 
title to which shall fail from a defect of heirs, shall revert or 
escheat to the people. 

AKTICLE X. 

education. 

Section 1. The supervision of public instruction shall be 
vested in a state superintendent, and such other officers as the 
legislature shall direct. The state superintendent shall be 
chosen by the qualified electors of the state, in such manner as 
the legislature shall provide ; his powers, duties, and compensa- 
tion shall be prescribed by law. Provided, That his compensa- 
tion shall not exceed the sum of twelve hundred dollars annually. 

Sec. 2. The proceeds of all lands that have been or hereafter 
may be granted by the United States to this state, for educa- 
tional purposes, (except the lands heretofore granted for the pur- 
poses of a university,) and all moneys, and the clear proceeds 
of all property, that may accrue to the state by forfeiture or es- 
cheat, and all moneys which may be paid as an equivalent for 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 201 



exemption from military duty, and the clear proceeds of all fines 
collected in the several counties for any breach of the penal 
laws, and all moneys arising from any grant to the state where 
the purposes of such grant are not specified, and the five hun- 
dred thousand acres of land to which the state is entitled by the 
provisions of an act of congress, entitled "an act to appropriate 
the proceeds of the sales of public lands, and to grant pre-emp- 
tion rights," approved the fourth day of September, one thou- 
sand eight hundred and forty-one, and also the five per centum 
of the net proceeds of the public lands to which the state shall 
become entitled on her admission into the union, (if congress 
shall consent to such appopriation of the two grants last men- 
tioned,) shall be set apart as a separate fund, to be called the 
school fund, the interest of Avhich, and all other revenues de- 
rived from the school lands, shall be exclusively applied to the 
following objects, to wit: — 

1. To the support and maintenance of common schools in 
each school district, and the purchase of suitable libraries and 
apparatus therefor. 

2. The residue shall be appropriated to the support and main- 
tenance of academies and normal schools, and suitable libraries 
and apparatus therefor. 

Sec. 3. The legislature shall provide by law for the establish- 
ment of district schools, which shall be as nearly uniform as 
practicable, and such schools shall be free and without charge 
for tuition to all children between the ages of four and twenty 
years, and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed therein. 

Sec. 4. Each town and city shall be required to raise, by tax, 
annually, for the support of common schools therein, a sum not 
less than one-half the amount received by such town or city re- 
spectively for school purposes, from the income of the school fund. 

Sec. 5. Provision shall be made by law for the distribution 
of the income of the school fund among the several towns and 
cities of the state, for the support of common schools therein, in 
some just proportion to the number of children and youth resi- 
dent therein, between the ages of four and twenty years, and no 
appropriation shall be made from the school fund to any city or 
town for the year in which said city or town shall fail to raise 
such tax, nor to any school district for the year in which a 
school shall not be maintained at least three months. 

Sec. 6. Provision shall be made by law for the establishment 
of a state university, at or near the seat of state government, 
and for connecting with the same from time to time such col- 
leges in different parts of the state, as the interests of education 



20% CONSTITUTION OF 



may require. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may 
hereafter be granted by the United States to the state for the 
support of a university, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, 
to be called the "university fund," the interest of which shall 
be appropriated to the support of the state university, and no 
sectarian instruction shall be allowed in such university. 

Sec. 7. The secretary of state, treasurer, and attorney gen- 
eral shall constitute a board of commissioners for the sale of 
the school and university lands, and for the investment of the 
funds arising therefrom. Any two of said commissioners shall 
be a quorum for the transaction of all business pertaining to the 
duties of their office. 

Sec 8. Provision shall be made by law for the sale of all 
school and university^ lands, after they shall have been ap- 
praised, and when any portion of such lands shall be sold, and 
the purchase money shall not be paid at the time of the sale, 
the commissioners, shall take security by mortgage upon the 
land sold for the sum remaining Unpaid, with seven per cent in- 
terest thereon, payable annually at the office of the treasurer. 
The commissioners shall be authorized to execute a good and 
sufficient conveyance to all purchasers of such lands, and to 
discharge any mortgages taken as security, when the sum due 
thereon shall have been paid. The commissioners shall have 
power to withhold from sale any portion of such lands when 
they shall deem it expedient, and shall invest ail moneys aris- 
ing from the sale of such lands, as w T ell as all other university 
and school funds, in such manner as the legislature shall pro- 
vide, and shall give such security for the faithful performance 
of their duties as may be required by law. 

ARTICLE XL 

CORPORATIONS. 

Section 1. Corporations without banking powers or privi- 
leges may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created 
by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases 
where, in the judgment of the legislature, the objects of the 
corporation can not be obtained under general laws. All gen- 
eral laws or special acts enacted under the provisions of this 
section may be altered or repealed by the legislature at any 
time after their passage. 

Sec. 2. No municipal corporation shall take private property 
for public use against the consent of the owner, without the ne- 
cessity thereof being first established by the verdict of a jury. 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 203 



Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the legislature, and the}' are 
hereby empowered, to provide for the organization of cities and 
incorporated villages, and to restrict their power of taxation, as- 
sessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their 
credit, so as to prevent abuses in assessments and taxation, and 
in contracting debts by such municipal corporations. 

Sec. 4. The legislature shall not have power to create, author- 
ize, or incorporate, by any general or special law, any bank or 
banking power or privilege, or any institution or corporation, 
having any banking power or privilege whatever, except as pro- 
vided in this article. 

Sec 5. The legislature may submit to the voters at any gen- 
eral election, the question of "bank or no bank," and if at any 
such election a number of votes equal to a majority of all the 
votes cast at such election on that subject shall be in favor of 
banks, then the legislature shall have power to grant bank char- 
ters, or to pass a general banking law, with- such restrictions 
and under such regulations as they may deem expedient and 
proper for the security of the bill holders : provided, that no 
such grant or law shall have any force or effect until the same 
shall have been submitted to a vote of the electors of the state 
at some general election, and been approved by a majority of 
the votes cast on that subject at such election. 

ARTICLE XII. 

amendments. 

Section 1. Any amendment or amendments to this constitu- 
tion may be proposed in either house of the legislature, and if 
the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members 
elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or 
amendments shall be entered on their journals with the yeas 
and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature to be 
chosen at the next general election, and shall be published for 
three months previous to the time of holding such election. 
And if in the legislature so next chosen, such proposed amend- 
ment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the 
members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the 
legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments 
to the people, in such manner and at such time as the legisla- 
ture shall prescribe, and if the people shall approve and ratify 
such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors 
voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become 



204 CONSTITUTION OF 



part of the constitution. Provided, That if more than one amend- 
ment be submitted, they shall be submitted in such manner that 
the people may vote for or against such amendments separately. 
Sec. 2. If at any time a majority of the senate and assembly 
shall deem it necessary to call a convention to revise or change 
this constitution, they shall recommend to the electors to vote 
for or against a convention at the next election for members of 
the legislature; and if it shall appear that a majority of the 
electors voting thereon have voted for a convention, the legisla- 
ture shall at its next session provide for calling such convention. 

ARTICLE XIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS PEOVISIONS. 

Section 1. The political year for the state of Wisconsin shall 
commence on the first Monday in January in each year, and the 
general election shall be holden on the Tuesday succeeding the 
first Monday in November in each year. 

Sec. 2. Any inhabitant of this state who may hereafter be 
engaged, either directly or indirectly, in a duel, either as prin- 
cipal or accessory, shall forever be disqualified as an elector, 
and from holding any office under the constitution and laws of 
this state, and may be punished in such other manner as shall 
be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 3. No member of congress, nor any person holding any 
office of profit or trust under the United States, (postmasters 
excepted,) or under any foreign power; no person convicted of 
any infamous crime in any court within the United States, and 
no person being a defaulter to the United States, or to this state, 
or to any county or town therein, or to any state or territory 
within the United States, shall be eligible to any office of trust, 
profit, or honor in this state. 

Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the legislature to provide a 
great seal for the state, which shall be kept by the secretary 
of state ; and all official acts of the governor, his approbation 
of the laws excepted, shall be thereby authenticated. 

Sec. 5. All persons residing upon Indian lands within any 
county of the state, and qualified to exercise the right of suf- 
frage under this constitution, shall be entitled to vote at the 
polls which may be held nearest their residence, for state, 
United States, or county officers: provided, that no person 
shall vote for county officers out of the county in which he re- 
sides. 



THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. 205 



Sec. 6. The elective officers of the legislature, other than the 
presiding officers, shall be a chief clerk, and a sergeant-at-arins, 
to be elected by each house. 

Sec. 7. No county with- an area of nine hundred square 
miles or less, shall be divided, or have any part stricken there- 
from, without submitting the question to a vote of the people 
of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters of 
the county voting on the question, shall vote for the same. 

Sec. 8. No county seat shall be removed until the point to 
which it is proposed to be removed, shall be fixed by law, and a 
majority of the voters of the county voting on the question, 
shall have voted in favor of its removal to such point. 

Sec 9. All county officers whose election or appointment is 
not provided for by this constitution, shall be elected by the 
electors of the respective counties, or appointed by the boards 
of supervisors, or other county authorities, as the legislature 
shall direct. All city, town, and village officers, whose election 
or appointment is not provided for by this constitution, shall be 
elected by the electors of such cities, towns, and villages, or of 
some division thereof, or appointed by such authorities thereof 
as the legislature shall designate for that purpose. All other 
officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this 
constitution, and all officers whose offices may hereafter be cre- 
ated by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed as the 
legislature may direct. 

Sec. 10. The legislature may declare the cases in which any 
office shall be deemed vacant, and also the manner of tilling the 
vacancy where no provision is made for that purpose in this 
constitution. 

AETICLE XIV. 

Provides that all rights, actions, prosecutions, judgments, 
claims, and contracts, made and pending under the laws of the 
territory shall be valid, and recognized the same as if issued 
and made under state laws. It also provides for submitting 
the constitution to the people for their adoption by voting for or 
against it, and provides for the election of state officers under 
the constitution. 



206 CIVIL DUTIES. 

SOUND PUBLIC OPINION ESSENTIAL TO STABLE 
GOVERNMENT MAY BE INJURED BY EX- 
TERNAL INFLUENCES. 

In the example of a State constitution here 
given, it has been deemed preferable to se- 
lect one of the Western States ; they are of 
more recent date, are further removed from 
European influence, and are more thoroughly 
republican. The older States, to keep pace 
with the development of self-government, have 
had to revise their constitutions, and they 
have lost some of their simplicity in the pro- 
cess. 

Ancient republics, had not only inherent 
defects in their forms of government, but 
also external dangers from neighboring mon- 
archies. Happily for the United States, 
external dangers from this source are too re- 
mote to occasion apprehension ; yet a gov- 
ernment based on public opinion may suffer 
damage from the influence of foreign litera- 
ture. Opinions formed under a civilization 
which includes monarchy, aristocracy, pre- 
rogative privilege, and an exalted idea of 



CIVIL DUTIES. 207 

birth and station, are wholly in conflict with 
the simplicity of republicanism. Therefore 
however proud we may be of the great 
names which have adorned our lan°Tiao;e, we 
can not be blind to the fact, that European 
literature is not an unalloyed blessing. A 
national literature should represent the na- 
tional sentiment; should be in accordance 
with, and a support to, the institutions of the 
country. A sound literature is one of the 
greatest aids to good order, and one of the 
best supports of the stability and perma- 
nence of a government. Xo European gov- 
ernment could withstand a republican litera- 
ture universally read by its people, because 
their institutions are based partly on tradi- 
tion, and partly on fiction : these a hostile 
literature would destroy; the artifice once 
exposed, the whole fabric would totter and 
fall. To such a hostile influence has our 
young Republic been exposed, and for nearly 
a hundred years has nobly withstood its in- 
sidious assaults. A national literature is of 
slow growth, but every effort should be made 
to fill up this great deficiency. The light 



208 CIVIL DUTIES. 

reading of European authors has a demoral- 
izing effect on republican sentiment; and 
even the ethics are not less to be shunned, on 
'account of their inadaptability to the higher 
morality which is expected from the citizens 
of a free republic. I refer those who have 
not reflected on the subject to Paley's "Law 
of Honor," where a whole class, according to 
that law, are absolved from every moral and 
social obligation, as far as their intercourse 
with society is concerned. It furnishes an 
extraordinary example of the amount of wick- 
edness which may be tolerated, when sanc- 
tioned by custom. But in a republic, where 
every citizen, unconstrained by the arbitrary 
edicts of absolute government, and the inso- 
lent pretensions of privileged classes, forms 
an integral part of the society of which he 
is a member, a higher morality is called 
for. The spurious moralities based on " ex- 
pediency," "utility," self-interest," "greatest 
good," "fitness of things," which have served 
to occupy the minds of speculative philoso- 
phers, have no useful purpose. When man 
becomes his own guardian, and ceases to be 



CIVIL DUTIES. 209 

the ward of privileged lawgivers, his moral 
attributes must be called into action ; he has 
made a step forward in the progress of civil- 
ization; he is no longer a subject, but has be- 
come a free man, and has to perform certain 
sovereign acts ; his moral obligations have 
increased, and higher qualifications are called 
for to fit him for his new position. 

How are these higher qualifications to be 
acquired ? The answer is simple : by the 
cultivation of the intellectual and moral fac- 
ulties ; by the adaptation of these faculties to 
the new circumstances. It is plain that God 
intended the happiness of his creatures, and 
so constituted them that, by the exercise of 
certain faculties, they might fulfill this design. 
A man can not see without eyes — equally cer- 
tain is it that he can experience no impres- 
sions without faculties to receive them. God 
has given us these faculties — they are a part 
of our nature as much as our eyes or our 
ears — and, when properly educated, on these 
faculties we base our rules of conduct, the 
equity of our laws, and they are to us the 

most palpable indications of the will of God. 
14 



210 CIVIL DUTIES. 

Indeed, a high form of government requires 
a high type of character. Freedom can in- 
crease only as fast as control becomes need- 
less: and control only becomes needless when, 
by the cultivation or adaptation of the in- 
ward faculties, they are made to perform 
their proper functions ; and, to do this, they 
should be protected from all influences calcu- 
lated to give them a misdirection, or at least 
warned of the hurtful tendency. Foreign sen- 
timents which are in conflict with our institu- 
tions are as much to be shunned as are the 
plagues and pestilential diseases which we 
attempt to exclude by sanitary laws. 

The artificial civilization which has existed 
in Asia for so many ages only exceeds in 
degree that of Europe. The greater freedom 
in the latter marks the steps of progress 
mankind is making in adapting itself to a 
natural social position — namely, the condition 
of equal freedom — which selfishness and vio- 
lence have so long distorted. 

By the power of an increasing intelligence 
the social condition of man seems to be right- 
ing itself; the dormant energies of the moral 



CIVIL DUTIES. 211 

powers of the many millions kept in ignorance 
will be replaced with intelligent, active ener- 
gies ; cultivated virtue will fill the place 
of ignorant depravity; and, as all faculties 
strengthen by use, it is fair to presume that 
humanity will improve until it becomes more 
nearly adapted to a naturally moral condition. 
This progress is silently moving onward, 
and will continue so to move until the natural 
principle is accepted : that to every man 
belongs the freedom to do ivhat he wills, pro- 
vided he infringes not the equal freedom of any 
other man. This is the law of nature, and 
whatsoever law is opposed to this principle is 
arbitrary, and can only be called into exist- 
ence with the slightest justification, when 
depravity has proceeded so far as to endan- 
ger society. Arbitrary laws, under such cir- 
cumstances, may be expedient, but can never 
be moral, and should only be temporary till 
the necessity can be removed. 



212 CIVIL DUTIES. 



CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON CIVIL DUTIES. 

There are many duties, though not of so 
marked a character as those which have been 
described ; still they form no unimportant part 
of the obligations which devolve upon us in 
our intercourse with men. All that makes 
existence valuable may be lost, if restraints 
are not imposed. A great many offensive 
intrusions are suffered which laws can not 
redress; the only redress is. an appeal to 
public opinion, which is based upon those 
unwritten laws founded in nature, and per- 
fected by education and custom — in fact, 
the public conscience. This power of judging 
exists in every mind well balanced by justice; 
for justice not only suggests what is necessary 
and right for our gratification, but also grace- 
fully yields to others what is necessary and 
due to their convenience and comfort. 

Right and wrong occupy a middle place 
between liberty and restraint; for right is 
guarded by liberty, and wrong is checked by 
restraint. Yet liberty has its boundaries, and 
restraint has its limits. Restraint is exer- 



CIVIL DUTIES. 213 

cised to prevent harm to others, and where it 
exceeds this, it becomes itself hurtful; and as 
it is the duty of government to protect all, 
the limits of restraint and the boundaries of 
liberty should be well marked and duly ob- 
served. 

In former times the struggles have been 
between liberty and power — liberty then 
meant protection against rulers — but in 
these days, liberty claims protection against 
"tyrannical majorities and associated rings." 
Office has become inviting— not as a means of 
doing good, but for its power and rewards — 
wealth is preferred to virtue. This is a moral 
disease that needs correction, for, such as are 
the heads of a community, such must the 
people soon become. When office is obtained 
by wealth, office will be made to augment 
wealth ; for, if power is obtained by corrup- 
tion, power will compensate the expenses of 
bribery with interest — the ferment of corrup- 
tion is rapid, and evil becomes universal. 
But our business is not with the moral dis- 
ease, rapacity — except so far as rocks and 
shoals suggest caution to the mariner, so 



214 CIVIL DUTIES. 

the corruptions of a people suggest caution to 
the statesman. 

A main source of political safety consists 
in the faithful administration of the laws. 
However wisely laws may be framed, they will 
prove impotent and useless, unless those who 
may administer them, administer them in a 
spirit of justice and integrity. Whenever the 
source of justice becomes corrupt and dilatory 
the bonds of society become loosened. Few 
will care to be just, if they have not a full 
assurance that justice will be reciprocated — 
without mutuality, there is no justice. 

In preparing the foregoing pages, it has been 
the object of the writer to build up a practi- 
cal morality suited to the relations of citizens 
in a republic ; and believing that morality, to 
be of value, must be fixed, all the controver- 
sies of modern moralists have been avoided. 
And with a view to usefulness, we base our 
plan on those feelings which are a part of our 
natural constitution, because they are in ac- 
cordance with the design of the Creator as 
manifested in thus creating us. The moral 
feelings have been described in the first part 



CIVIL DUTIES. 215 

of this work, where it has been shown that, 
from the proper exercise of these feelings, the 
happiness of the individual is derived. The 
same exertion of these feelings will lead us to 
the proper discharge of our social duties, and 
thus the happiness of the whole community 
will be promoted, both being derived from 
the same source, and showing the peculiar adap- 
tation of the design of the Creator, and the 
admirable perfection of His beneficence. 

I now close my humble effort; and if it 
should be favorably received, and show a 
probability of usefulness, I may, perhaps, be 
led to return again to the subject in a larger 
and more elaborate effort, when I shall be 
aided by a larger experience, and a greater 
familiarity with the subject. The student 
who directs his attention to moral duties, 
cultivates the moral senses, and acts in ac- 
cordance with their dictates, can not fail to 
improve in virtue, to increase in self-res- 
pect, become more earnest in his love of 
liberty, and more intense in the ardor of his 
patriotism ; and while steadfast in the asser- 
tion and maintenance of those rights, which 



216 CIVIL DUTIES. 

are his due, he will faithfully discharge the 
obligations which arise out of them; he will 
thereby aid in securing to others the same 
rights, the same liberty, and the same security 
which he himself desires, and which constitute 
the bond of civil society. From the rights 
and privileges we derive from society, these 
duties arise : that we be law-abiding, faithful 
in our trusts, energetic in honorable pursuits, 
and that, while we pursue our own interests 
and honor, we keep in view the interest, and 
honor of our country and of our fellow-men. 
Thus, by leading a virtuous life, we not only 
enjoy the blessings of society, but also conduce 
to the peace, harmony, and happiness of man- 
kind. 



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